Cleveland drops their second-straight game to Birmingham.
The Cleveland Charge started strong, but couldn’t keep it going on the offensive end. The offense dried up in the second half which bled over to the defense. This resulted in a 106-95 loss to the Birmingham Squadron. This was Cleveland’s second loss in as many days to Birmingham.
The tail end of a back-to-back against the same team can turn chippy. That was certainly the case on Sunday. The game started to heat up in the first quarter when Emoni Bates fouled Josh Oduro when he was going up for a layup. Bates wrapped him up above the shoulders. The Squadron took exception to that as Bates and Oduro needed to be separated after the incident.
Bates received a flagrant for his role in the affair. That seemed to light a fire under him as he poured in nine points in the second quarter to give Cleveland a five-point lead at the half.
That fire didn’t extend after the break. The Charge couldn’t get anything going in the third quarter. Their five-point advantage quickly turned into a 17-point deficit as the offense struggled mightily. This led to Birmingham outscoring Cleveland 39-17 in the quarter. The Charge converted just 35% of their attempts from the field compared to Birmingham’s 70%.
“I think they just wanted it more than us,” said Charge forward Nae’Qwan Tomlin when asked what went wrong in the third quarter. “I don’t feel like we were locked in as a whole unit.”
Cleveland didn’t have an answer for Lester Quinones. He scored 18 in the third alone on 6-7 shooting which included going 4-5 from three. Quinones provided one more point in the third than the Charge had as a team.
That poor third frame from the Charge cost them the game. They weren’t able to make it competitive in the fourth.
The Charge benefited from Bates, Tomlin, Luke Travers, Jaylon Tyson, and J.T. Thor playing in the game. But unlike in their first matchup, they didn’t have Craig Porter Jr.
Despite the talent, Cleveland doesn’t have a quality point guard to set up their skilled players with Jules Bernard injured (knee). Travers and Tyson took turns trying to do that role, but both are better suited to be a secondary playmaker and doing most of their damage off the ball.
This showed up in Tyson and Travers’s final box score. Tyson tallied 13 points on 4-9 shooting with eight rebounds, five assists, and four turnovers. Travers provided only 12 points on 5-6 shooting with three rebounds, five assists, and four turnovers.
The Charge were led by Bates who provided 21 points on 7-16 shooting from three with 10 rebounds and 3 helpers. Tomlin, who is on a 10-day contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, added in 20 points on 7-9 shooting with five boards.
Birmingham was led by Quinones who finished with 39 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists. Keion Brooks Jr. added in 16 points and 11 rebounds in the win.
The loss drops the Charge to 9-13 in the regular season portion of their schedule. They’re back in action Tuesday when they take on the Grand Rapids Gold. The Charge return home on March 5.