Vinson, Lightning shoot past Waves 136-110
He scores 27 in home opener; Tyus Edney makes L.A. debut
Fred Vinson hit 7-of-12 from 3-point range and scored 27 points Saturday night, leading the L.A. Lightning to a 136-110 rout of the Oregon Waves in its home opener at the Gilbert Arena in Thousand Oaks.
The Lightning (3-0) outshot the visitors 56.3 to 43.4 percent and outscored them 35-16 in the third quarter to stretch the margin to 30 points (102-72) entering the fourth.
Tyus Edney, a star guard on UCLA’s NCAA Championship team in 1995, made his Lightning debut and scored 11 points with eight assists. Edney played four years in the NBA and is the seventh ex-NBA player on this year’s roster.
“I didn’t what to expect from the IBL but it was nice,” said Edney, who’s played overseas for most of the last decade. “All these guys know how to play and we’ve got a lot of talent.”
Trayvon Lathan had 19 points, seven rebounds and eight assists while Keith Simpson came off the bench to collect 21 points (on 8-8 shooting), four rebounds and four assists in 19 minutes.
Travis Pinick scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half and Chris Ayer led the Lightning in rebounds with nine. L.A. lost the board battle 56-45 but forced 26 turnovers.
Marcus Hamilton led seven Oregon players in double figures with 17 while Lorenzo Davis had 13 points and 12 rebounds.
The Lightning hit 14-25 from downtown (56 percent) compared to 5-26 for the Waves (19.2 percent) in the rematch of last year’s IBL Finals, which L.A. won.
Vinson missed the team record for treys in a game by one.
“Our experience with running the pick and roll was freeing me up,” said Vincent, an assistant coach with the L.A. Clippers. “I’ve never played with Tyus Edney but we did try out together for the Toronto Raptors. We have a good feel for each other. He’s won a European championship and it’s great to have him.”
The Lightning and Waves will play a live TV game on FOX 11 on Sunday at Santa Barbara City College , starting at 3 p.m.
“I’m looking forward to playing in Santa Barbara and entertaining those great fans,” said Vinson.
