Northwood Realty holds off Dairy Queen, 86-79

Dairy Queen might not win the J. Budd Grebb Memorial Summer League regular season title, but the 3-6 team served notice Tuesday it will be a force to reckon with in the playoffs.

DQ had league leader Northwood Realty on the ropes most of the night before falling short, 86-79.

Northwood (8-1) can wrap up the title Thursday with a win over two-time defending champion Union Cleaners or a Bee Graphix loss to DQ.

In the feature game at the Mechanic Street playground, DQ took a 44-40 lead at halftime and led most of the second half.

The upset-minded team stretched its lead to 66-61 with 7:40 left before Northwood mounted a comeback.

Tanner Huffman hit a layup with 4:30 left to tie the score at 73-73 and when Marcus Thomas scored with 3:45 left to play, Northwood had its first lead of the second half, 75-73.

The two teams were tied 77-77 when Huffman drilled a three-pointer with 2:53 to play to give Northwood the lead for good, 80-77.

Thomas led Northwood with 30 points, 18 in the second half. Chavas Rawlins had 19 points, 13 in the second half. Huffman finished with 18 points.

DQ, which had just five players, was led by Brian Fisher with 22 points, 14 in the first half. Tyal Prince finished with 20 points, Aaron Agostino 18 and Mike Beveridge 14 for the losers.

In the first game of the evening, Bee Graphix had no trouble with Campy's Pizza, rolling to an 80-38 win.

Bee Graphix (7-2) raced out to a 46-16 lead at halftime and never looked back.

Gannon Walls-Mitchell led the winners' attack with 23 points while Elijah Minnie had 22. Dayshore Majors chipped in with 14 points.

Campy's (2-7), which had just five players, was led by Paul Pellick with 11 points. Demetri Clements had 10.

GREBB TIDBITS: For the first time in the league's three-year history, there was a forfeited game. Union Cleaners (5-4) had just four players and forfeited to Fayco Rentals (2-7). League director Ray Huffman said that a big reason for the lower attendance of players Tuesday was that Monessen had its community picnic day at Kennywood Park. Monessen boasts a league-high 15 players participating in the league ... The regular season ends Thursday with a tripleheader and playoffs are scheduled to begin Tuesday. There is a possibility, depending on how Thursday's games turn out, that a play-in game for the final playoff spot would be needed Monday. If Fayco beats Campy's and DQ loses to Bee Graphix, Fayco and DQ will play Monday for the final playoff spot.