Long Beach to host ABA Championship Game
February 18, 2004 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Maywood Laguneros News Release
LONG BEACH, CA – The American Basketball Association (ABA) announced today that the first place Long Beach Jam will host the league championship game Mar. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The Jam’s final regular season game will be Mar. 2. The Jam have been in first place all season, winning their first seven games en route to its current 19-7 record.
Despite losing his two best players, Matt Barnes and DerMarr Johnson to the Los Angeles Clippers and New York Knicks respectively, coach Earl Cureton has managed to keep the Jam in first place and in position to play for the ABA title. Making the transition to starring roles have been Juaquin Hawkins, Jerry Dupree and Schea Cotton, who stepped successfully into their increased playing time, helping the Jam stay two games ahead of the second-place Kansas City Knights.
This weekend, the Jam have a two-game set with the Jersey Squires, Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. The Squires are 2-17, including a 149-108 loss in their only meeting with the Jam this season. The Squires, coached by Ron Eford, recently signed eight-year NBA veteran Isaac Austin. The team also features former Cal State Fullerton Titan, Darren Little.
FridayÂ’s game will air on KVMD-TV. Play-by-play announcer, Geoff Witcher will call the game and Neil Evans will be the color analyst. Witcher, with more than 25 years of television and radio broadcast experience, is best known for his work with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels. KVMD-TV is a full service station and can be found by cable viewers on Adelphia and Charter systems in such communities as Anaheim, Santa Ana, Santa Monica and Long Beach on Channel 23. The station is also carried on satellite by DirecTV (Channel 31) and the Dish Network (Channel 8021).
The ABA 2003-04 season includes seven teams, the Long Beach Jam, Kansas City Knights, Tijuana Diablos, Gallos de Pelea of Juarez, Jersey Squires, Las Vegas Rattlers and Fresno HeatWave. The ABA includes unique game rules such as the “3-D” rule (when a team loses possession while in the backcourt, the team who acquires possession gains one additional point per field goal—2-point shot becomes 3, 3-point shots become 4: if a foul occurs, the number of free throws awarded increases by one), and the international basket interference rule (once the ball hits the rim, it is live and any player may make contact with it without being penalized for “goaltending”).
Individual game tickets are on sale now and available for purchase by visiting the Long Beach State Pyramid box office, or by phone at 562-985-4949 and 888-4-JAM-TIX. Prices range from $5 for students, senior citizens and military, to $10-15 for reserved seating. Season and group tickets may be purchased by calling the Long Beach Jam offices at 562-799-8100.
Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.
• Discuss this story on the American Basketball Association message board...
American Basketball Association Stories from February 18, 2004
- Long Beach to host ABA Championship Game - Maywood Laguneros
- ABA announces league playoff structure - ABA
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
