EVERETT – While the Everett Explosion will certainly miss leading scorer Rashaad Powell at some point during the next two to three weeks, they didn’t need his 31.4 points per game on Wednesday night.
With Powell sidelined by a sprained knee, the Explosion took care of business by blowing out the Tacoma Jazz for the second consecutive night, 136-115, in front of 1,492 fans at the Events Center. Everett (10-2) has now beaten Tacoma (3-10) in all three meetings between the International Basketball League expansion teams.
Before the game, the Explosion announced that Powell would miss two to three weeks due to a sprained knee he suffered in Tuesday’s win over the Jazz. Powell ranked third in the IBL in scoring, at 31.4 points per game, before suffering the injury.
On Wednesday, Powell was on the Everett bench wearing street clothes and was walking around without the use of crutches.
Playing with a lineup that consisted of three-fifths Snohomish County players – shooting guard Corby Schuh teaches in the Marysville school district, while point guard Darrell Walker (Marysville-Pilchuck) and center Mike Jones (Cascade) attended high schools in the area – the Explosion got off to a slow start Wednesday but eventually heated up.
During one stretch in the late first and early second quarters, Everett outscored Tacoma 26-2 en route to a 21-point lead. Tacoma went 12 minutes without hitting a field goal, missing 19 consecutive attempts.
But the Jazz rallied to get within 54-46 at halftime, causing Everett coach Randy Redwine to blow up at the team in the locker room.
That led to another decisive run, 19-3, to open the second half. Justin James’ fastbreak dunk and traditional three-point play on back-to-back possessions highlighted the spurt, and after that the Jazz never got closer than 20 points until the final minute of the game.
Tacoma’s Mike Nowell, a 41-year-old former Explosion player, scored all of his team-high 20 points in the meaningless fourth quarter.
Eight Everett players scored in double figures, led by 20 points each from Schuh and starting forward Justin Murray.
“We’ve got guys who can step up,” said Walker, who had 14 points and four assists for the Explosion. “We definitely miss Rashaad – no doubt. But we play like a team, and that’s what we did tonight.”
The short-handed Explosion will lose another key player in the coming days because backup point guard and third leading-scorer Jamaal Miller is scheduled to head back to Romania to finish his professional season there. General manager Brad Sturlaugson said Miller could return to Everett in time for the final three games of the regular season, which will be played next month.
The Explosion knew of Miller’s commitment when they signed him 21/2 weeks ago.
“Depth has been the strength of the team all year,” Sturlaugson said, “and now is the time for the bench to get tested.”
Miller is averaging more than 17 points per game, including the 18 he scored off the bench Wednesday.
Without two of their top three scorers, the Explosion will head south to play against second-place Portland this weekend. Everett and the Chinooks (9-3) will play at Portland’s Peter Stott Center on Sunday, and then again at the Everett Events Center next Thursday.
But Portland is also short-handed. The Chinooks lost David Lucas, the IBL’s leading scorer, to a broken hand last week. Lucas is expected to miss three to four weeks, Portland coach Terrance Dickens said on Wednesday night.
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