EVERETT – Darrell Walker laid prone under the basket, both hands to a face that grimaced in pain underneath.
An errant elbow temporarily knocked the Everett Explosion point guard out of the game midway through the fourth quarter. And when he went down, so did the Explosion’s chances of handing the Salem Stampede their first loss of the season.
Minus its floor leader, Everett struggled to make a shot down the stretch, and the Explosion succumbed to the Stampede 125-121 Wednesday night in their International Basketball League game.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go our way, but we played hard,” Walker said. “It’s a home game and we’ve got to win here.
“(The officials) let a lot of things go, it’s a tough league,” Walker continued. “But we’ve just got to play through it. It think we let a lot of that get to us and sometimes we have to step up and play as physical ourselves.”
Before a crowd of 1,505 at the Everett Events Center, Blake Walker scored 36 points and Mike Tabb added 26 points and 10 rebounds for Salem, which outplayed Everett down the stretch to remain undefeated at 7-0.
Rashaad Powell scored 36 and Walker added 23 for Everett (4-2).
“I thought it was a very good game, a very winnable game,” Everett coach Randy Redwine said. “(The Stampede) execute well and they’re aggressive.
“They won the ball game, I tip my hat to them,” Redwine added. “We have to get more aggressive. We were the nice guys tonight. We have to be more aggressive and take games.”
But it was going to be difficult for the Explosion to take the game without Walker for much of the fourth quarter. The Marysville-Pilchuck High School grad already had his career-high 23 points and had made a series of big plays when, with the Explosion leading 105-103, he was bumped from behind while driving to the basket. His momentum took him face-first into Antone Jarrell’s elbow as the Stampede big man came down with a rebound.
“For probably the third time in a row (the Stampede defender) took my feet out with his hands,” Walker explained. “I was getting to the key and jump stopping, but it’s hard when you’re getting pushed.”
Walker remained on the floor for a couple minutes before leaving under his own power. He later made a brief return, but fouled out without scoring another point.
The game had been a back-and-forth affair when Walker went out. But without Walker Everett’s offense stagnated as the Explosion managed just four field goals the rest of the way – and two of those came in the game’s final 30 seconds with little hope of a comeback.
“(Not having Walker) was a big factor,” Redwine said. “If you watched this game you saw the impact he had on the team. He was the guy pushing it up the floor, hitting the guys who needed to be hit for open shots. I won’t say he played a perfect game, but he’s our glue right now, and without him out there in a close game it shows.”
Powell also had four rebounds, five blocks and five steals to go along with his 36 points. However, Powell did most of his damage early in the game.
“The guys played hard,” Powell said. “I’ll take the brunt of the responsibility for the loss. I didn’t rebound enough, I didn’t defend well enough for our team to win. I think the guys around me played well. But me being the leader, I didn’t play enough for our team to win the game.”
Everett also received nice contributions from role players Justin James and David White. James had 11 points, White had 10 points and 10 boards.
Back in the lineup for Everett was guard Donald Watts. The Explosion’s second-leading scorer missed the previous game to attend his grandfather’s funeral in Alabama and it was questionable whether Watts would return in time for Wednesday’s game. However, Watts made it back in time and finished with 15 points.
Also back for Everett was guard Chris Weakley, who was cleared to play after serving a one-game suspension for his involvement in a fight at Colorado on Apr. 14. However Weakley, who came into the game as Everett’s third-leading scorer at 15.8 points per game, didn’t play in the first quarter and was used sparingly the rest of the way.
Salem received 22 points and nine rebounds from Jarrell, and 10 points and 11 assists from Will Funn.
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