LOS ANGELES LIGHTNING RELEASE
By Dave Loveton, Director of Media Relations
dave@losangeleslightning.net
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Game 19 – Olympia Reign 136, Lightning 129
Photos by Joseph Cisneros

Lightning drop regular-season finale
Lathan tallies 32 points and 21 rebounds in 136-129 setback

Drew Housman

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- The L.A. Lightning lost their regular-season finale 136-129 at the Olympia Reign on Wednesday night, despite 32 points and a career-high 21 rebounds by Trayvon Lathan.

Billy Knight added 27 points and 11 boards for the Lightning (14-5), who made only 19-of-37 free throws and got outscored 48-33 in the third period after leading 60-55 at halftime.

“It was a total breakdown in the third quarter,” said L.A. coach Ron Quarterman. “But even with that, we missed 18 free throws and we lost by seven. We weren’t focused at all.” Chris Ayer had 24 points, nine boards, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Tarron Williams added 18 points and 11 rebounds while Drew Housman had 14 points, three assists and three steals.

Dejuan Tate produced 10 points and seven rebounds for the Lightning, which won the board battle decisively, 79-61, but also commited 22 turnovers. Lathan made 13-of-22 from the field but only converted 50 percent of his free throws (6-12) and turned it over eight times. Nine of his 21 rebounds were offensive.

Olympia 's Nate Menafee, the leading scorer in the IBL, didn't arrive until halftime. The 5-10 guard made up for lost time by scoring 27 points (on 8-14 shooting, including 4-8 from 3-point land) with six rebounds in 21 second-half minutes. He had 19 points in the third quarter.

Mike Ward hit 6-9 from downtown and topped Olympia with 28 points while Virgil Matthews had 14 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.

Nicholas Moore scored 25 of his 27 points in the first half for the Reign (17-5), who drained 20-54 from 3-point range, compared to 6-17 for the visitors. Olympia outscored L.A. 60-18 from beyond the arc.

After trailing by 12 early in the fourth quarter, the Lightning got within four (119-115) on consecutive layups by Knight and Tate. Olympia regained control with an 8-1 run, capped by a trey from Menafee.

IBL Playoffs
Los Angeles , the defending IBL champion, was seeded No. 3 for the IBL Playoffs at Warner Pacific College in Portland . The Lightning will take on the No. 6 seed Bellingham ( Wash. ) Slam (13-7) on Friday at 6 p.m. in the American Bracket semifinals.

Friday's game will be broadcast in Ventura County on AM 1490 KKZZ radio and streamed live around the world on the internet at www.lalightning.net.

Olympia is No. 2 in the American Bracket and will meet the winner of Thursday's game between the Yamhill Highflyers and Oregon Waves on Friday at 3:30 p.m.