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SoCalHoops Tournament News

ARC/Slam-N-Jam Las Vegas
Tuesday Result (Singular) & Vegas Stuff--(July 30, 1998)

We didn't get the usual updates from the ARC/Slam-N-Jam Grand Finale that we had been expecting or hoping for, and we suppose that we'll have to wait until the SoCal kids return from Vegas to be able to give you all the details. But we did manage to find an article over on the Las Vegas Journal-Review site concerning the games, mostly focused on the Las Vegas local kids, like Cheyenne's Larry Graves, Cimarron-Memorial's Marcus Banks, and some of the others from the Vegas area, and in the process, we leared that the Las Vegas Heat beat the San Diego Kings 84-72 last Tuesday night. You know, it's hot in the desert and the news travels slowly.

But on the premise that some news is better than none at all, here's the article from the Journal-Review:

At 6 feet tall and 160 pounds, Cheyenne's Larry Graves is the least imposing player on the Las Vegas Heat basketball roster. His backcourt mate, Cimarron-Memorial's Marcus Banks, is far from the team's most imposing player, at 6-2, 178 pounds.

But together on the court, Graves and Banks have as much impact as any players on the team. "They're a big key for us," Heat coach Pat Welby said. They showed just how important Tuesday night in the Heat's 72-68 victory over the Arkansas Wings in the Grand Finale basketball tournament.

Banks scored the team's first 10 points, and finished with 23 with five assists and a steal. Graves took over in the second half, scoring 14 of his 19 points. He had two rebounds, three assists and six steals, and made four free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal the victory. "They stepped up tonight," Welby said after the game. "Larry really stepped up at the end, hitting those free throws. We wanted to get the ball in his hands. He was hot, and he was able to knock them down, which was important."

Yet, as important as they are to the Heat, they didn't start the summer in the lineup together. Welby and co-coach Daron Park had planned to have Graves and Banks share the point-guard duties. Graves didn't start the team's first game of The Big Time Basketball Tournament earlier this month, but scored 14 points off the bench as the Heat erased a 19-point deficit to beat the Northern Stars (S.D.), 77-70.

"It was kind of frustrating," Graves said of not starting that game. "But I knew once I got in there I was going to give us a spark. That's my job off the bench. If I'm going to come off the bench, I'm going to give us a spark."

He has been in the lineup with Banks since, and the Heat has done well, going 3-1 in the Big Time and 3-0 in the Grand Finale after Wednesday night's 84-72 victory over the San Diego Kings.

Graves said things have been smooth from the start. "At first I didn't think we were going to match up," Graves said. "But as I started practicing with him, I saw that his game complemented mine and mine complemented his. It's great playing with Marcus. It's real fun."

Said Welby: "They give us a lot of quickness. I think they complement each other real well, because they both can penetrate, drive and dish off. And Marcus is real strong inside. He can take it to the basket, and he can finish. Larry is so quick, and they really feed off each other, which I think is the key." Since both players are basically point guards, they are able to share the ballhandling duties, keeping each player fresher.

"It's nice to have another person who can bring the ball up, because that kind of tires me out," Graves said. "I try to play hard defense, so I have to chase the point guard and be the point guard, so that's kind of hard." Graves said his defense keys his offense and gets him going. And when he comes up with steals, as he did against the Wings, it helps the Heat get up and down the floor quickly.

"He's got such quick hands that he can deflect the ball, and then Marcus is right there filling the lane, and that's where they feed off each other," Welby said. "And what's interesting is that they're probably pretty big rivals during the regular season, Cheyenne and Cimarron, but you don't see it when they're playing together for the Heat. That's what's nice about this whole team. Everybody gets along."