CBA weekly review

by CBA Press Release
December 31, 2001 - Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)

CBA Press Release

CBA PLAYER OF THE WEEK

The Continental Basketball Association announced on December 31 that Rockford Lightning forward Jeff Sanders was named American Conference Player of the Week and Dakota Wizards guard Miles Simon earned National Conference Player of the Week honors for the period of Dec. 23-29.

Sanders, who also won the award after Week One, averaged 6.3 assists and league highs of 12 rebounds and 26.7 points on 23-51 (.627) shooting from the field in leading the Lightning to a 2-1 record. For the season Sanders is averaging 12.6 rebounds (2nd in the CBA), 5.7 assists (7th in the CBA) and 21.5 points (7th in the CBA).

Simon, who picked up the first National Conference award after Week Three, poured in 21.8 points (on 38-70 [.543] shooting from the field) and dished out 5.3 assists per game in leading the Wizards to a perfect (4-0) record for the week. On Christmas night Simon grounded the American Conference leading Skyforce in Sioux Falls when he nailed a clutch 15-foot baseline jumper with 1.5 seconds remaining. He finished the night with 10 rebounds and a team high 22 points.

Other players receiving consideration for American Conference honors were Sioux Falls' Silas Mills (25.5 ppg, 6.8 rpg), Grand Rapids' Terquin Mott (17 ppg, 11.5 rpg) and Gary's Darrin Hancock (13.5 ppg, 4.5 apg). The three other players receiving consideration in the National Conference were Fargo-Moorhead's Jermaine Walker (25.5 ppg, 6 rpg), Flint's Ira Newble (22.8 ppg, 2.5 spg) and Saskatchewan's Tim Winn (5.7 apg, 3 spg).

CBA TRANSACTIONS

12/31/01 -Dakota signed Mark Davis.

12/28/01 -Flint signed Charlie Harris and waived Adam McCanna. Dakota waived Marquise Gainous.

12/27/01 -Rockford placed John Ford on its Active Roster and placed Corey Hightower on the Injured Reserve List. Sioux Falls signed Tony Massop and placed Muntrelle Dobbins on the Injured Reserve List.

AROUND THE CBA

DAKOTA: After a rugged seven-game road trip that included three wins and a Christmas day game in Sioux Falls, the Dakota Wizards were just relieved to be home Thursday night. They celebrated their return by grilling the Gary Steelheads, 126-92, sweeping all seven points in the process. Wining all four quarters is a surprisingly rare feat in the CBA. The Wizards (7-4) hadn't done it yet, and it had happened just four times in 52 games heading into Thursday night, although in three of those contests the Steelheads were the victims. Wizards Forward Rico Hill, who led the Wizards in scoring, scored 13 of his 25 in the final 12 minutes. Marvin Rodgers had 22 points and Khalid El-Amin had 12 points and 10 assists. On Friday night, Wizards guard Michael Johnson found Rico Hill wih 1.6 seconds left to tie the game at 90, and from there the Wizards went on for a 101-94 overtime win against the Gary Steelheads. Miles Simon had 29 points, six rebounds and four assists for Dakota. Forward Courtney James had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Wizards (8-4) are averaging 4.4 quarter-points per game. Both games had over 3,000 fans. The Wizards will next play the Saskatchewan Hawks New Year's Eve at the Bismarck Civic Center. Game time is 7:05 p.m.

FARGO-MOORHEAD: The FM Beez finished a long road trip winning five out of seven games. They included splits with Saskatchewan 93-85, 90-95 and with Rockford 97-94, 94-98. The Beez had wins over Flint 103-101, Gary 94-87 and Grand Rapids 104-91. Jermaine Walker and Ruben Nembhard are the team's leading scorers with 23.6 and 22 points per game respectively. Johnny Tyson and Chianti Roberts are each averaging 7.3 rebounds per game. Beginning with a New Year's Eve match-up with the Gary Steelheads in the Fargo Dome, the Beez will have eight home games and five road games in the month of January.

FLINT: The Flint Fuze split the week with 2 wins and 2 losses. They found themselves on the losing end to the Fargo-Moorhead Beez and the Grand Rapids Hoops, but saw the light shine again after winning both games against the Saskatchewan Hawks in their back-to-back meetings. The brightest light of the week was that Ira Newble had been named National Conference Player of the Week last week. This award marks the first of Newble's CBA career and the first given to the Flint franchise.

GARY: After weeks of consideration, Leon Smith of the Gary Steelheads won his first Player of the Week award last week. Smith, the 1999 NBA first round draft pick out of Chicago's King High School, averaged a league high 21.5 rebounds coupled with 18.5 points. In a 125-122 overtime victory over the conference leading Sioux Falls Skyforce Smith pulled down a season high 30 rebounds, the fourth highest single game total in CBA history. In his first CBA season the 21-year-old Smith is leading the league with 15.9 rebounds per game.

GRAND RAPIDS: The Hoops went 1-1 last week, with a 98-96 victory over the Flint Fuze and a 104-91 loss to the Fargo-Moorhead Beez. On Sunday the Hoops beat the Rockford Lightning in overtime. Terquin Mott has proved to be a terrific pick-up having posted double-doubles in his first three games. On Thursday, January 3 the Hoops host the Gary Steelheads.

ROCKFORD: The Rockford Lightning have earned four of six American Conference Player of the Week awards this season. On New Years Eve it was announced that Jeff Sanders had won his second. He averaged 6.3 assists and league highs of 12 rebounds and 26.7 points on 23-51 (.627) shooting from the field in leading the Lightning to a 2-1 record. For the season Sanders is averaging 12.6 rebounds (2nd in the CBA), 5.7 assists (7th in the CBA) and 21.5 points (7th in the CBA). Mike James, the recipient of the Lightning's other two awards, scored 5 points in 5 minutes for the Miami Heat on December 23rd in an 83-76 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

SASKATCHEWAN: The Hawks hired veteran CBA coach Bill Klucas on December 27. He brings over 30 years of collegiate, international and professional coaching experience to Saskatoon. As only the second head coach in league history to reach 500 games coached, Klucas ranks fourth on the CBA's all-time coaching victories list with 264 wins.

SIOUX FALLS: The Sioux Falls Skyforce started a nine-game home-stand on Christmas night versus Dakota, falling 103-104 on a 15-foot baseline jumper by Miles Simon. The Force bounced back for a 112-106 win over Rockford on Dec. 27, as Silas Mills poured in 43 points on 15-of-18 shooting. Mills' 43 points tied him for the third-highest single-game point total by a player in franchise history. The Skyforce then topped Gary on Dec. 29, claiming all seven quarter points. Darren McLinton dished out a season-high 14 assists in the win. Sioux Falls stands at 14-4, and will face the Saskatchewan Hawks on Jan. 4.

PRIMETIME PERFORMANCES

Jermaine Jackson of the Flint Fuze dished out a CBA season high 16 assists in a narrow 103-101 overtime loss to the Fargo-Moorhead Beez. He also scored 16 points and pulled down 7 rebounds.

Silas Mills scored 6 of his 43 points in the final two minutes on December 27th to bring the Skyforce back from an 11-point halftime deficit and defeat the Rockford Lightning 112-106. His point total is a CBA season high and 3 shy of the Skyforce record of 46 points set by Ralph Lewis in 1989.

Jeff Sanders of the Rockford Lightning posted 16 rebounds and 36 points on 13-19 (.684) shooting from the field and 10-11 (.909) from the free throw line in a 112-106 loss to the Sioux Falls Skyforce on December 27th.

Sean Colson of the Grand Rapids Hoops made a CBA season high 17 free throws on a season high 18 attempts (.944) in a 104-91 loss to the Fargo-Moorhead Beez on December 27th. Colson scored 30 points and made 7 assists in the loss.

Ira Newble scored 28 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the Flint Fuze on December 28th in a 97-78 win over the Saskatchewan Hawks. He also made 3 steals and blocked 2 shots in the victory.

THIS WEEK IN CBA HISTORY

On January 4, 1995 Carl Thomas of the Grand Rapids Mackers set a CBA regular season record with nine 3-point field goals in a 105-102 loss to the Quad City Thunder. Thomas led the CBA with 152 3-point field goals that season. His record has been tied three times, the lastest by LaZelle Durden of the Rockford Lightning in a 115-109 loss to the Omaha Racers on March 22, 1996.

Continental Basketball Association 1 Stories from December 31, 2001

• CBA weekly review - OSC Original by CBA Press Release

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