By LEE HILLER, Journal Sports

Two more wins.

That is all the Shreveport Mavericks need to give coach Steve Tucker his fifth National Pro Basketball Championship after defeating the So Cal Moguls 111-94 and claim The Basketball League West Regional series in two games Thursday night at the Gold Dome.

The Mavericks will now have to wait and see who they will face in the TBL finals. Kokomo defeated Albany in the first game of its East Region Final series 123-110 and will not play again until Sunday.

Thursday’s top gun on the night was guard Tyrone Jordan, who scored 31 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. The Mavericks’ other two top scorers were their season “bell cows” Paul Parks and Paul Harrison as both tallied 21 points.

The Mavericks went with a bigger starting lineup with 6-foot-9 Bilal Richardson joining 6-9 Harrison up front. Richardson gabbed six of his nine rebounds in the opening 12 minutes as the hosts ran out to a 32-20 lead.

The size made a difference overall on the boards as Shreveport outrebounded So Cal 67-47. Every Maverick played, with everyone scoring and grabbing at least one point and rebound in the game.

“We figured them out,” said an elated Tucker after the game. “We got to their legs in the second quarter and wore them down.”

Shreveport never trailed in the game and led by as many as 29 points (88-59) early in the fourth quarter. The Mavericks’ bench played a bigger role as only Jordan (36 minutes) and Parks (33 minutes) played more than 29 minutes in the game.

The Moguls’ leading scorer was point guard Julian Winton with 21 points, but he didn’t have a second consecutive triple-double with just five rebounds and three assists. Kevin McNeal tossed in 19 points, Isaiah Gentry had 14, Jeremy Ireland added 13 and Josue Salaam finished with 10.

Contact Lee at lee.hiller51@gmail.com

Photo by LEE HILLER