Published on Thursday, February 14, 2008

Yakama thumps Krunk behind Ferguson's eight 3-pointers
By DAVE THOMAS
YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC

Link: http://www.yakimaherald.com/page/sp/297098276474692

Pick your poison.

That's how Atlanta coach James Williams explained his team's choice of a zone defense to try and slow down the Yakama Sun Kings the past two nights in the SunDome.

Pick another option.

That's what Williams needed to do after the Sun Kings twice dismantled the Krunk, using diametric styles.

Tuesday, it was Jason Sasser picking apart the interior zone for 43 points in Yakama's victory.

Wednesday, it was Desmond Ferguson — who couldn't get out of bed Tuesday because of the flu — leading a long-range assault that went over the top of an Atlanta zone packed in even tighter to avoid a Sasser repeat performance.

Ferguson and the Sun Kings tied franchise records with their 3-point prowess, and Yakama shook off a sluggish start to roll past the Krunk 134-92, earning a 6-1 quarter points victory and improving to 33-2.

"You can pick your poison, but we'll get our points any way we can," said
Ferguson, who was flat-out
dominating in the first half, when he hit all eight of his treys en route to 30 points. "Sas told me before the game it would be easy because they (Atlanta) play a zone. I just had to knock down shots."

"That's the best half I've seen anyone play for me, in terms of shooting the ball," coach Paul Woolpert said. "Not only was he confident, but when he shot, everyone in the building was confident it was going in."

The 6-foot-7 guard didn't get another 3-pointer after that as Atlanta played a box-and-one defense on him in the second half, but he finished with a game-high 34 points.

"At the half, there was talk about me getting the (single-game) record," he said of his own mark of 13 set last season. "It would've been nice to do, but I was not going into the (second) half trying to make more.

"Atlanta switched things up defensively, and the other guys stepped up."

Yakama wound up hitting 15 of 30 3-pointers, matching the franchise record, and also tied the team mark with 46 assists, one night after collecting 44.

"They decided to pack it in and luckily, we have guys who can knock down shots from the outside," Woolpert said.

Denarryl Rice hit four of the 3-pointers, including the final one to tie the record set against Rockford on Jan. 21, 2003, and Sasser made all three of his attempts en route to a 22-point effort.

Tim Ellis had Yakama's fifth triple-double in the past six games, collecting 20 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists — the last coming on a pass to Rice for the record-tying trey.

"Tim Ellis is excelling at every aspect of the game," Woolpert said.

So, frankly, were the Sun Kings the past two nights, with Wednesday's first quarter the lone exception as Atlanta led 28-22.

"I take a lot of the blame for that," Woolpert said. "I reinstated an offensive set against the zone and, obviously, it was ineffective. We scrapped it after the first."

And Yakama never looked back.

The Sun Kings ripped off 45 points in the second quarter, hitting 19 of 30 shots and recording 17 assists to zero turnovers, to build a 67-49 halftime lead. They didn't let up after the break, and finished shooting 54.5 percent for the game (54 of 99).

In the final three quarters, Yakama had 39 assists to five turnovers.

"We're just having fun and passing the ball," said Ellis, noting the only two columns on the stat sheet the players really care about are assists and turnovers. "We just want to keep it rolling."