Albany Patroons Come Back From Deficit, Defeat Oklahoma 104-99
December 22, 2007 - Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)
Albany Patroons News Release
With the fourth quarter winding down, it looked as if the Albany Patroons might lose a heartbreaker against the Oklahoma Cavalry. The undermanned Cavalry, bringing only seven players to the game, having lost two 7-0 shutouts in Pittsburgh, and borrowing the Patroons' road jerseys to even compete, nearly pulled off a stunning upset. After the third quarter, the Cavalry had an 84-68 lead against the Patroons. But the Pats, minute by minute, took points off the Cavalry lead; and when Lucious Jordan drew an "and-one" foul from Oklahoma's Randy Gill, and Nat Burton converted off an errant backcourt pass, Albany took the lead, and eventually the win, 104-99. By winning the final quarter of the game, Albany took four of the seven quarterpoints in the match.
The cavalry took the first two quarters, 26-24 and 25-22, behind strong efforts by Eddie Smith (12 pts in the half) and Darold Crow (13 pts in the half). In the third quarter, Crow tried to rebound the ball under the basket, and crashed to the ground, injuring his right knee. Still, the Cavalry took the third quarter, 33-22, and it looked as if the Cavalry would take their own 7-0 quarterpoint sweep.
"Sometimes when you play undermanned teams like that, it's human nature to take them for granted," said Patroons head coach Vincent Askew after the game. "No excuses on our part, we should have come out harder. But we got the win. I told them that even though we were behind in the fourth quarter, we were going to cut the fourth quarter into segments, if we got closer in the score, the team would take harder shots that would go in."
With the score 90-94, Lucious Jordan ran down the court with the ball. As he went up for the basket, Oklahoma's Randy "White Chocolate" Gill fouled Jordan on the arm - the ball went in - and Jordan converted the three-point play. A few seconds later, an errant Oklahoma pass that went over midcourt was tracked down by Albany's Nat Burton, who took the uncontested layup for a 95-94 lead with 2:15 left.
"I saw the play open up in front of me, and I was trying to get to the ball," said Burton. "The first, second and third quarter we didn't play well at all, the fourth quarter we stuck around and were able to take them in the ball game. We've seen the team now, and we should be better prepared to play Oklahoma in the future."
Amal McCaskill led all Patroons in scoring with 33 points; he also pulled down 13 boards and had three steals on the night. Nat Burton added 24 points of his own; 24 assists were spread around the team. Five of seven Cavalry players scored in double figures, led by Eddie Smith (21 pts), Darold Crow (17 pts) and Judson Stubbs (17 pts). Smith also had four steals to lead the Cavalry in that category.
The Patroons and Cavalry will next meet for a Christmas night showdown at the Washington Avenue Armory. Game starts at 7:35 p.m.
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