Reserves key in Everett victory

EVERETT – Patience not being one of his virtues, Everett Explosion coach Randy Redwine has been known to have a quick trigger finger. And early in Tuesday night’s game against the rival Seattle Mountaineers, he fired four times.

Redwine benched four starters for most of the first quarter following a slow start, and the Explosion reserves made the move pay off.

Led by 17 first-quarter points off the bench, Everett pulled ahead and staved off a late challenge to defeat its International Basketball League rival 121-105 at the Events Center.

“I wanted to give them a boost, and I knew whoever I put in the game was going to be hungry,” Everett coach Randy Redwine said after his bench scored 69 points to account for more than half the team’s total for the game.

The most hungry player was Donald Watts, who had started in his previous five games but was forced to come off the bench Tuesday. Watts scored a team-high 26 points, including 16 in the first half.

“I challenged him,” Redwine said. “I told him he’s been playing good, but I needed more. I needed him to be a spark, and he was.”

Watts said he has been struggling mentally following the recent death of his grandfather, but he took the one-game benching as a wake-up call.

“I’ve been dealing with some things that have taken my focus away from basketball, and (Redwine) was just trying to get my attention back on basketball,” Watts said. “I guess it worked.”

Rashaad Powell, who entered the game as the IBL’s second-leading scorer at 35.1 points per game, added 25 points, including 15 in the second half.

Everett (6-2) did not get off to a perfect start, falling behind 16-8 out of the gates. Redwine benched every starter but Powell, and the reserves led 17-5 run over a five-minute stretch, leading the Explosion to a 25-21 advantage that they would not surrender. Watts scored eight points during that spurt, and had 10 of his points in the first quarter alone.

Everett built on a 29-24 advantage after one period, scoring the first eight points of the second quarter en route to a 62-44 halftime lead. Powell and the rest of the starters led the way in the second period, during which Everett outscored Seattle 33-20 to take control.

The Explosion bench scored 35 points in the first half, including a team-high 16 from Watts.

While Everett seemed to be in control for most of the second half, Seattle chipped away and eventually made a game of it. Former Explosion player Antwon Jones made a driving layup to draw Seattle (2-12) within 104-101 with 3:42 remaining in the game, but Everett scored eight quick points in just over a minute to push their lead back to 11.

Seattle’s Lemar Gale led all scorers with 29 points, while teammate Lynell Ingram added 28.

Former Explosion player Antwon Jones struggled in his return to the Events Center, scoring eight points on 4-for-13 shooting while playing for the Mountaineers. He missed his first eight shots from the field, scoring his first two points with 1:47 left in the third quarter.

Jones, who ranked third on the Explosion in scoring (15.8 points per game) at the time of his release, has scored just 14 points on 5-of-25 shooting in two games against Everett since his April 21 release.

The Explosion cut Jones after a post-game locker room incident, and he signed with Seattle a few days later.

Only about 1,000 fans showed up at the spacious Events Center for Tuesday’s game, marking a second consecutive home game in which the crowd has been sparse. The Explosion announced 3,777 fans for the April 10 home opener, but attendance has continued to drop in each of the two subsequent games played at the Events Center.

Those who did make it out for Tuesday’s game got to see a deep team that continues to thrive in its first year of existence.

“We have a lot of guys who can play,” Watts said. “Our goal is to win a championship. To win a championship, we have to have eight or nine guys playing with confidence – hopefully 12.

“It’s going well. We’ve got to keep building.”