UNI duo, Williams lead team to PTL title

Adam Koch and Ali Farokhmanesh are teammates in real life at Northern Iowa and also in the Prime Time League. Their chemistry, as evidenced by their team's MVC title last year, is expected.

But Koch and Farokhmanesh sizzled in summer league action when combined with former Missouri Valley Conference competitor Kaylon Williams on their PTL team. The combination proved lethal all summer and concluded Monday night with a 104-88 win to claim the PTL championship.

The trio accounted for 74 points and made both remarkable and mundane plays. Perhaps one of the day's top highlights featured Williams, the former Evansville point guard, finding Koch near the basket for an alley oop midway through the first half.

“It's easy to communicate with Kaylon,” said Koch, who led all scorers with 31 points. “He sees the floor so well that a lot of times that even if he doesn't know what I'm going to do, he'll see it anyway and he'll get the pass there.

“Playing against him, I knew he was a good player. Now getting the chance to play with him this year was a lot of fun. He's a really good point guard. Obviously I like it when he's getting me looks all the time.”

Williams, a Cedar Rapids Kennedy alum, led the MVC last season in assists last season and was named to the MVC all-freshman team. Williams left Evansville after the season and will play this fall at Kirkwood Community College. He scored 17 points, dished 11 assists and pulled down five rebounds, all while defending former high school rival and current Iowa sophomore Matt Gatens. Williams was tabbed as the PTL's top defender this year.

“At the beginning of the league I was trying to play more of a point guard,” Williams said. “I didn't shoot much and a lot of my teammates told me to look to score and that would help them get baskets. To tell you the truth, I thought I had a heck of a year in this league.”

Koch, a 6-foot-11 senior forward, earned first-team all-MVC honors last year. Koch was named a tri-MVP of the PTL, along with UNI teammate Jordan Eglseder and Iowa guard Anthony Tucker. Last night Koch scored 26 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Farokhmanesh played high school ball at Iowa City West and was named to the MVC's all-newcomer team last year. He was battered under the basket and along the edge but kept fighting through to lead all scorers with 31 points.

The championship team consisted of only one Iowa player ­- sophomore post Andrew Brommer - and he didn't play because of a sprained right ankle.

“We've got a team that plays hard in this league,” Williams said. “We've got a lot of good players on our team and I'd love to play with Ali and Adam Koch. Those are two great players; we've just got good chemistry with good players like that.”

The runners-up consisted of former UNI player Matt Schneiderman, who led the team in scoring with 18 points. Upper Iowa's Nick Kramer and Radford's Nick McFarlin each scored 18 points. Gatens scored nine points.