Idaho Stampede 118 Los Angeles Defenders 110 Game Recap: Toure' Murry and Kevin Murphy do it again

Coach Cooper and his Idaho Stampede are now 2-2 with 46 games left before the playoffs after sweeping the two game road trip against the Los Angeles Defenders. The game wasn't as close as the last one (a narrow come from behind victory won by foul shooting, 130-129) but it followed a very familiar storyline. Idaho was sleep walking through the first quarter, but came on late to score a LOT of second half points (69).

It's also pretty familiar to see who is producing for this team:

• Kevin Murphy busted out for 26 points (still, going 0/6 from deep, but being a volume scorer from inside), 6 rebounds, 5 assists (5 turn overs), and 3 steals. Not being able to consistently hit the three and be more than the next Morris Almond with the ball in his hands is keeping him in the NBA DL almost as much as his slightly below NBA level defense on the perimeter.
• Toure' Murry had 22 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals, and continues to be a handful for other guards. Against smaller guys he can out physical them, and against guys his size he just has too many skills. There' a reason why I call him the Dwyane Wade of the NBADL.
• Jack Cooley, still injured, didn't play
• Nick Covington, still injured, didn't play
• Trey Bussey, the rookie, didn't start even after having a big game for Nick who got injured in the first quarter of the last game. He still provides that spark off the bench and scored 11 points, and had 4 assists.
• Jerrelle Benimon was big inside with 17 points, 18 rebounds, and 3 assists.
  
• Shane Gibson did continue his shooting streak by scoring 14 (3/8 from three), and addd 3 assists in the start.

If you are looking at the prospects, it's easy to see why these guys are here. The main rule of the NBA-DL is that to be a call up you have to consistently be better than everyone else on the floor. I think Murry is doing that (again, he did it before his rookie year in the NBA), he's way too good for the NBADL, like Ian Clark, but not quite good enough to crack a regular rotation.

Murphy can score, but he needs to do more before finding a home in the big leagues.