The Vancouver Volcanoes recorded their twelfth victory of the season defeating the Tacoma Jazz, 111-95.
    The 7 p.m. tip-off was postponed due to a false fire alarm. The delay forced the players to warm up twice.
    “It was different,” Vancouver guard, Alex Hartman said. “It got us out of our routine, but it didn’t phase us.”
     “Tacoma is tough,” Volcano Coach, Theo Evans said. “They are scrappy, if you allow them to stay in the game they’ll have a chance to win.”
    “The last time we played them, we ran a lot of zone, because they are not good shooters.” Evans said.
    Both teams played flat during the first period, the delayed tip-off affected the energy of the players.
    The first period ended with the Volcanoes leading 26-23.
    During the second period, Gary Muzzy made several hustle plays and muscled his way to four points in the paint. Muzzy sparked a run for the Volcanoes with his energy. Perimeter shots began to fall for the Volcanoes as the second period progressed.
    With 4:12 left in the first half, the Volcanoes had a 12 point lead 51-39.
    Vancouver tightened up their defense recording five blocks and four steals. The Volcanoes spread the ball around scoring with nine different players in the first half. Volcanoes guard, Porter Troupe, had 14 first half points and finished with 25.
    First half score - Vancouver 59, Tacoma 41.
    During  half time Evans encouraged the Volcanoes to continue to play as a team
    “If we match their attention level and their physicality then they can’t keep up with us,” Evans said. “All we have to do is get down on defense and make it a group effort.”
    With 4:21 left in the third period the Volcanoes built their lead to 78-53.
    The fourth period began with the score Vancouver 83, Tacoma 57.
    Tacoma tried to rally with late offense. The Jazz managed to bring the score to within 11 points with 6:20 on the clock, but the rock stayed hot for Vancouver as they defended the lead.
    “They (Tacoma) are bigger than us, so we had to protect the inside and not let them out rebound us,” Volcano guard, Josh Jackson said.
    At 3:18 in the period, Kevin Tyner took an inbounds pass around the top of the key and down the lane to make the score 103 Vancouver, 87 Tacoma. Tacoma forward, Dontay Harris encouraged his team to try and make one more push.
    “I’m thirty years old and looking at my last season in the IBL,” Harris said. “I was telling the team to go down fighting. We have a young team and they have to learn that no matter what the score, you go down fighting.”
    Harris finished with 26 points.
     “When we play team defense we are really hard to beat.” Evans said.
    Vancouver wins 111-95.