Daniel Ruffin and the Central Illinois Drive win PBL Championship

[Da Coach]

The Central Illinois Drive advanced to the Premiere Basketball League Finals, and Thursday night they played game 1 of the best of 3 Finals against The Rochester (NY) RazorSharks.

Game 1 was played at the Blue Cross Arena in downtown Rochester, New York.
The Drive won 98-91. They were lead by Daniel Ruffin's 22 points. Game 2 will be played at the US Cellular Arena in Bloomington on Saturday at 7:05 PM, and game 3 (if necessary) will be in Bloomington on Sunday at 4:05 PM. The RazorSharks are the defending champions of the PBL, but in their first season, the Central Illinois Drive posted the best record.-

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/basketball/professional/minor/drive/drive-pull-away-to-win-pbl-finals-opener/article_2fae60b0-850d-11e1-a5b7-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.drivehoops.com/news/index.html?article_id=57

Box score-

http://www.dakstats.com/WebSync/Pages/BoxScores/BoxScores.aspx?association=56&sg=MBB&sea=PBLMBB_2011&team=18687&compID=147735

[Da Coach]

The Central Illinois Drive won the PBL Championship last night with a dominating 101-80 win over the Rochester RazorSharks-

http://www.pantagraph.com/sports/professional/basketball/minor/drive/central-illinois-drive-finishes-first-season-with-the-pbl-championship/article_391e82e8-86a6-11e1-aa2e-001a4bcf887a.html

[tornado]

they dominated from wire to wire in the PBL..using mostly Peoria-area kids, including Ex-BU and Ex-ISU players,
congrats!!!!

[bradleybraves1]

I'm still trying to figure out how they did this with ISU guys on the team. Congrats DRuff!

[tornado]

The Premier Basketball League just held their annual owners meeting and this is what is said to have come out of that meeting in Chicago over the past weekend...

-they considered the past season a success - with 100% of expenses paid and little or no debt currently

-the structure changes this year with the individual teams being on the hook for a greater share of the costs. Teams are encouraged to dig for sponsors and new sources of revenue.

-owners approved a 20-game league schedule (starting in December) then playoffs

-there are 40 cities who are requesting to enter teams in the PBL and at least six deserve closer look and are real possibilities.

-the league's best team and Champion - the Bloomington (Central Illinois) Drive - may be one of the teams that folds - this is currently unresolved....and part of the problem is how poorly the city of Bloomington has managed their home arena, US Cellular...
The Drive owner has publicly said he would buy the arena and run it better - but he has also said he is interested in selling the team.

http://www.cinewsnow.com/news/local/Edge-Drive-owner-offers-to-buy-US-Cellular-Coliseum-161622905.html