Everett, Wash.
Published: Monday, June 30, 2008

Bellingham advances to championship game

By Bob Mortenson
Herald Writer

 MONROE -- Despite a 25-point halftime lead over the Vancouver Volcanoes, the Bellingham Slam was taking no chances in the International Basketball League Western Conference tournament championship game Sunday at Monroe High School.

"We're not letting them back in this game," Bellingham's 6-foot-6, 295-pound center Brian "Yogi" Dennis exhorted teammates as the Slam took the floor before the start of the second half. "We're going to show everybody in this gym why we're the No. 1 seed."

Dennis' teammates must have been listening as the Slam, led by tournament MVP Ryan Diggs (29 points, seven rebounds, five assists) went on to a comfortable 120-106 win.

Bellingham (18-4) will host the Eastern Conference champion Elkhart Express (23-1) in the IBL title game July 19.

"We kind of let up there towards the end, but overall we played real well," Bellingham coach Rob Ridnour said, referring to the 35-point deficit Vancouver whittled down in the final minutes.

High-flying Tyler Amaya (23 points, 13 rebounds) and the ground-pounding Dennis (12 points, 13 rebounds) keyed Bellingham's 56-36 domination on the boards. Lucas Henne added 21 points and six rebounds.

Bellingham struggled to a three-point lead by the end of a back-and-forth opening period, but blew the game open with a 34-12 second quarter blitz.

Kemp delivers in All-Star game: Former Seattle SuperSonic forward Shawn Kemp had 32 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots to lead the North to a 160-143 victory over the South in the All-Star Classic that preceded Sunday's championship final.

Chris Keller, one of four Snohomish County Explosion players on the North's six-man roster poured in a game-high 43 points on 18-for-31 shooting that included seven 3-pointers. Chris Weakley registered a triple-double, scoring all 18 of his points on 3-pointers and adding 14 assists and 10 rebounds.

Troy Gwynn tallied 32 points and eight boards while Jamal Miller just missed a triple-double (25 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists).

The Explosion's Alex Adediran led the South with 35 points and 13 rebounds. Tacoma's Ike Hanson added 31 points and a game-high 19 rebounds.

The halftime festivities included slam dunk and 3-point shooting contests won by Edmonton's Andrew Parker and Vancouver's Brad Lechtenberg.
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