Mahinmi Challenges Augustin for Best Baller in Town

Turns out the Longhorns weren’t the only team from Austin putting a beat-down on a rival this weekend. The Austin Toros smoked the Central Division leading Dakota Wizards Saturday night, 118-87. And no, it was not closer than the box score suggested.

Often times in a basketball game, you need luck to pull out a victory. Other times, you need hustle and discipline. Of course, sometimes, all you need is a 6’ 11’’ French center with NBA experience to destroy everything in his path. That’s also helpful.

Ian Mahinmi is arguably the best basketball player in Austin right now (with apologies to D.J. Augustin). Mahinmi, on assignment from the San Antonio Spurs, scored 30 points, and added 15 rebounds and four steals to go along with seven blocked shots for the Toros. Let me say that again. Seven. Blocked. Shots. Including one vicious rejection of Dakota Wizards and Internet star (in the nonporn sense) Rod Benson that kind of resembled a submarine torpedo attack. There was this big explosion and then just a bunch of falling debris.

DerMarr Johnson had 26, and Marcus Williams added 25 for the Toros, who bounced back from a loss to Iowa Friday night, following a weeklong break for the All-Star game. The Toros set a season record for blocks, lowest points allowed, and tied a season record for steals. I’m not kidding. There hasn’t been a beat-down like this since Bloodsport.

The Toros were only up 2 after the first period, behind inspired guard play for the Wizards. Blake Ahearn who has been sensational in eight games since moving to the starting position, had 27 points, with 9 in the first, to keep the Wizards within distance. In fact, the Wizards actually outshot the Toros 58% to 53% in the first period. But in the second, the Toros shook off the rust and exerted themselves in the paint. Mahinmi had 11 points in the second, and the Toros shot 16 free throws to the Wizards’ 9.

The game featured a terrific front-court matchup of Mahinmi and Johnson facing off against one of the better forward combos in the D-League, the Wizards’ Rod Benson and Carlos Powell, a recent D-League player of the week and D-League All-Star. But Powell and Benson were held to just 10 points thanks to a furious Toros defense that created 30 points off of 19 turnovers. Powell was held to one for 10 shooting with five turnovers. That’s not so good, Al.

The D-League’s second-leading score, Keith Langford, had an unusually slow night, scoring just 14 points off of six of 10 from the floor. The Wizards’ guards showed great hustle and focus keeping Langford in check while scoring, but the rest of the team could not find any consistency defensively in the paint.

The Toros moved to 21-11 overall and 14-4 at home. They have two more home games next weekend versus the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and Anaheim Arsenal before beginning the Toros’ version of the “Rodeo Road Trip” for the Spurs, the “SXSW Trip.”

Oh, and I caught up with Keith Langford and asked him about that KU-OSU game, since he’s a KU grad and all.

“I didn’t (see it), but everybody’s made sure to tell me about it.” Turns out all the Jayhawks had problems this weekend. And with former Longhorn Kenton Paulino shooting 100% from the floor on two shots for 6 points, it looks like Saturday was a day when Longhorns, current and former, could do no wrong.

Matt Moore covers basketball for the Score and has contributed to Deadspin.com. You can find his daily ramblings on the NBA at Hardwood Paroxysm.