For the second consecutive week, the Portland Chinooks took the Snohomish County Explosion down to the wire last Saturday night. This time the Explosion finished on top with a 118-115 victory in front of 829 fans at the Monroe Sports Arena. 

The Explosion pulled out to a nine point first half lead behind the hand of Chris Weakley. He connected on three of four from long range en route to 11 points in the first 3:30 of the game. After that, both teams played evenly the rest of the game. The big difference came off the bench. The Explosion outscored the Chinooks bench 78-30, led by the team-high 23 from Donald Watts. The Explosion also dominated on the glass, out rebounding Portland 62-47. Snohomish also cleared 27 offensive rebounds compared to 13 for the Chinooks.

Weakley, Chris Keller, and David White all finished with 16 points and Troy Gwynn chipped 12 to round out Explosion players in double figures. The Chinooks also had five players in double digits led by Chris Stephens with 26 points. Larry Smith put in 21, and Brennon Martin added 20.

The Explosion are on the road next weekend as they travel to Tacoma to take on the Jazz Friday night, followed by a trip Saturday to play the Bellingham Slam.