The new look Deaf Toros opened the 2010 Southwest Basketball Associates for the Deaf regional tournament with a lopsided win against the Oklahoma City Chiefs. Seeking their 5th consecutive title the Toros showed why they have won this event annually. The Toros are playing without their superstar guard, Anton Jackson, due to suspension. Jackson has won three MVP awards for SWBAD during that consecutive tournament winning streak.
In the early going the Toros began as if this would be an uncontested blowout but the Chiefs refuse to lay down. Led by veteran sharp shooter, Edwin Alexander, who promptly showed his shooting range by knocking down four first half long range threes. The Toros got an early jump with repeated fast break baskets by guard Termiea Bowers who was on the receiving end of three easy baskets to open scoring and gave the Toros an early 14-7 lead in the first five minutes. Newcomer, William Spencer added on with a three pointer and two more layup but Alexander would answer each spurt with two consecutive three pointers to tie the game at 17 with 12 minutes to go in the first half.
Cagey veteran Darnell Woods got into the act by simply running off three consecutive threes that pushed the lead to double digits before the half. The Toros begin to look as if they were ready to pull away again as they built the lead to 18 but to only see it cut in half before intermission, 45-36. There were times the Toros looked superior and times they made careless turnovers. Coach Bobby Loeffler said “we need to play better team basketball. Keep it simple and sweet. We should have been blowing them out but we kept killing our momentum with bad plays in between the good ones.”
In the second half the Toros sought to capitalize on their early success while minimizing the careless errors. New Toros Joe Estep, their lone free agent, gave the Toros a presence in the paint that’s been missing on the defensive end. Estep led all rebounders with 15 and blocked a number of shots. He flirted with a near triple double if blocks were an official statistic. Estep also posted 17 points including one three-pointer.
With seven minutes left in the game the Toros built a 15 point margin as Woods headed to the bench 60-45. Within the next three minutes the Chiefs closed the gap to six, 66-60. Woods reentered and the lead was sustained once again as the Toros capped off the game with a 14-2 run.
Woods led the Toros with 19 points and 9 assist, Estep 17 points and 15 rebounds, Bowers 15 points and 7 assist, Spencer 14 points.
Wesley Layton led all scorers with 20, Alexander finished with 19 including five three pointers and Tracy Willis scored 16 for the Chiefs.
Next up for the Toros is a hungry East Memphis squad who are seeking to build on their blowout over New Orleans.
