Curry, Smith Lead Austin to Sixth Straight Win
January 16, 2006 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Austin News Release
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., January 16 - The Austin Toros extended the NBA Development League's longest current winning streak to six games with a 111-94 victory over the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in game five of the MLK Showcase at the Crown Coliseum on Monday.
Ramel Curry scored 24 points to lead the Toros, who won for the eighth time in nine games to improve to 10-7. Albuquerque dipped to 11-8 with the loss.
"When you are winning like this, there are times when players start feeling confident and try to step outside themselves and want to shoot more," Johnson said. "I haven't had to deal with that yet, but we have to guard against it."
Jamar Smith and Scott Merritt scored 19 points each for Austin. Alex Scales contributed 16 and Andre Emmett 15 for Coach Dennis Johnson's club. Smith, earning his second consecutive start in place of injured Marcus Fizer, collected 10 rebounds. Merritt had eight boards.
"Our guys are playing well together for the most part, and when they're not, they figure out what we're not doing right," Johnson said. "We don't try to spread points, be we do have options designed to get the ball to guys that are shooting well. We had a few different guys shooting well today."
Austin led 53-43 at halftime and was never really threatened the rest of the way. The Toros shot 52-percent (39-74) from the floor. Albuquerque converted 53-percent (37-69), but turned the basketball over 22 times and was outrebounded 40-33 by the Toros.
"Our defense was much better (Sunday). They were being aggressive and forcing a lot of things," Albuquerque coach Michael Cooper said. "It really came down to our inability to guard them one-on-one."
Marcus Douthit and Joe Shipp each scored 18 points to pace five Thunderbird scorers in double figures. Tierre Brown and Andreas Glyniadakis came off the bench to score 15 and 14, respectively. C.J. Miles, on assignment from the Utah Jazz finished with 12. Chuck Hayes collected nine rebounds.
Austin returns home to host the Fort Worth Flyers at the Austin Convention Center on Wednesday. Albuquerque's next game is at home on Friday against Austin.
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 January 16, 2006
- Higgins Coaches On The Floor to Drop the Tijuana Dragones 119-116 - Inglewood Cobras
- Inglewood Cobras and So Cal Legends Compete Like It's Playoff Time - Inglewood Cobras
- RazorSharks reach midpoint with 15-3 record - Rochester RazorSharks
- Sound bounces Baltimore 122-118 - Strong Island Sound
- ABA Power Rankings announced - ABA
- Curry, Smith Lead Austin to Sixth Straight Win - Austin
- Magicians to Host Game in Dothan - Birmingham Magicians
- Nighthawks Win In Overtime - Maryland NightHawks
- Matrix Extend Win Streak - Montreal Royal
- ABA Players of the Week Announced - ABA
- Buzz Win Second Straight Game - Maywood Buzz
- Players of the Week Announced - 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.
