BY JACK MORGAN – TBLNews.co
APR. 23, 2023
The Albany Patroons might be the hottest team in the TBL currently. After their loss to the Syracuse Stallions on opening night, they responded fiercely, by winning 13 of their next 14. Included in that total is the win they collected Saturday night over the Montreal Tundra 123-103. Even with Dane Anthony Miller Jr.’s 25-point performance, the Montreal Tundra were unable to overcome a 29-point showing from Patroons all-star Trevis Wyche.
Albany did not trail at all in their win over the Tri-State Admirals on Friday night. 24 hours later, they replicated that performance in almost every aspect. One of those aspects replicated by the Patroons was that they did not trail in this game at all yet again.
Shadell Millinghaus got the Patroons going with their first points of the game off a layup. Millinghaus should not be overlooked in this game, as his 20 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds energized the Patroons. After Tundra forward Diago Leron Alijandro Quinn Jr countered with a layup of his own, the Patroons kicked back with a 9-0 run to force a Tundra timeout just 3:16 into the game. This run featured a three from Philip Flory, and twos from James Currington, Wyche and Millinghaus. After Mustapha Traore hit a layup to put the Patroons up 17-6, Shadell Millinghaus went on a personal run of his own. He scored the next 7 points for the Patroons on 3 straight layups and a free throw to put Albany 26-12 with 3:10 left. After adding on a three for good measures with 56 seconds to go, the Patroons led 34-17 with one quarter down.
In the second, the Tundra went to work early, and thanks to a Mambi Diawara they cut the lead to 12. But one might say they poked the bear a little too hard. Albany responded with 10-2 run capped off by a Trevis Wyche three to extend the Patroons lead to 46-26 with 8:12 to go in the quarter. However, Montreal followed that up by going on an 8-2 run three minutes later in which they chopped the lead to 14. Albany stayed composed though, and outscored Montreal 16-9 to end the half and went up 64-43 at halftime. Something worth mentioning is the play of Mustapha Traore in the second. He was on point, recording 10 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and an astounding 3 blocks.
Albany continued to strengthen their grip on this game, as they extended their lead 80-53 after Shadell Millinghaus finished at the rim with 7:56 remaining. The Tundra would sink even further behind, as Flory drained another one of his five threes on the night to make the score 89-53 Albany. Three and a half minutes later, Flory punched the Tundra in the gut with another three to make the Patroon advantage 102-62. Ahmad J Clark and Diago Leron Alijandro Quinn Jr combined for seven points in the final two minutes of the quarter, but it only meant that Montreal would trail the Patroons by 37 instead of 40 after the end of the third quarter.
In the fourth, the Patroons seemed to let off the gas. Or one could argue it was Montreal finally turning up the heat on both ends of the court. Either way, Montreal controlled the action in the fourth. They outscored the Patroons by a margin of 44-16. Some of the key contributors in the fourth were Diawara who put up 11 points, Miller Jr. with 8 and Levi Londole with 4 points and 3 boards. However, this was all for nothing on the scoreboard, as the Patroons still won this game by a wide margin, 123-103.
