Silverados still winless at home

McALLEN — For those who stuck around until the end, there was high drama at the Rio Grande Valley Silverados’ game against the Great Falls Explorers on Saturday at the McAllen Convention Center.

The winner wasn’t in doubt, as Great Falls long before had the 106-85 win locked down.

Instead, the teams were in hot contention for the one point in the CBA standings that is awarded to the winner of each quarter.

The Silverados (1-16) may have lost their sixth straight and remained winless at home (0-6), but they did collect the coveted standings point when the 3-point attempt by Great Falls’ Keith Salscheider sailed wide, allowing RGV to run out the clock and win the fourth quarter 25-22. Unfortunately for the Silverados, not much else went right Saturday night before an announced audience of 597 fans.

Nate Green led all scorers with 24 points and Salscheider netted 22 for Great Falls (5-13), which had six players in double figures.

Toby Smith paced the Silverados with 18 points. Brian Evans added 16, and Renaldo Norman and Rod Nealy had 12 apiece.

The Silverados were without Mike Dean, who leads the CBA in scoring at 25.3 points per game. Dean was out due to a death in the family, and his availability is unknown for RGV’s rematch against the Explorers at 5 p.m. today at the convention center.

In addition to the loss of Dean, starting center Walt Waters’ ejection with 30.8 seconds remaining in the second quarter further depleted the Silverados’ roster.

Waters argued for a foul call that wasn’t coming and was hit with two quick technical fouls and ejected. He finished with six points.

Great Falls built a 26-15 lead after one quarter as the Silverados shot 6-of-18 from the field and committed seven turnovers. The Explorers pushed their edge to 50-35 at halftime and led by as many as 26 points in the third quarter.

Evans scored 10 of his 16 in the fourth quarter for RGV.

Todd Mavreles is the Deputy Sports Editor for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451.