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Ice upsets top-ranked Alley Cats

January 25, 2006 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Toledo Royal Knights News Release


Toledo, OH. The ABA Toledo Ice stunned the #1 ranked Indiana Alley Cats, 94-90 Tuesday night at the SeaGate Centre. The visitors brought with them a 21-1 overall record, a #1 ranking in the ABA since the first week of the season and were the only team in the Freddie Lewis Division that had not been beaten by a division opponent. The Alley Cats only loss of the year was last week on the road in Florida against the Florida Pit Bulls led by former NBA great, Tim Hardaway, who scored 32 points in that winning effort.

On Tuesday, playing solid team defense and showing veteran poise down the stretch, the Ice captured its biggest win by far in the team's young history. The Alley Cats jumped out to an early lead in the first quarter and finished the period with a six point advantage, 31-25. After back-to-back baskets by Jamel Gooding, the Ice grabbed a 49-42 lead with 3:30 left in the second quarter. Those were the last points that the Ice were able to muster for the half. The Alley Cats went on a 10-0 run compliments of four straight turnovers by the Ice, ending the first half with Indiana taking the a three point lead, 52-49.

During the third quarter, the lead changed hands several times with the visitors eventually going up 75-67 at the end of that period. With 3:37 left to go in the game, the Alley Cats took an eight point lead 88-80 on a three point field goal by Shaun Fountain coupled with a fast break dunk by Carl Edwards. Following a time-out by Toledo, Gameli Ahelegbe stole the ball from Fountain and scored on a layup at the 2:57 mark making the score 88-82. Levy Jones on the next defensive possession for the Ice came up with a blocked shot, then made an outlet pass to Emeka Okonkwo who scored a layup putting the Ice down by one, 88-87. The Ice got a third straight defensive stop and Jamel Gooding on a pass from Jamel Stanten scored at the basket putting the Ice up by a point 89-88 with 1:30 to go.

The Alley Cats' Aaron Hogg missed at the basket and Ahelegbe, after grabbing the rebound, was fouled and sent to the line for two shots. Ahelegbe missed the front end of a one-on-one, then hit the second free throw making the score 90-88 with 1:21 left in the game. The Alley Cats' Chandler Thompson got hammered on his next field goal attempt and hit both free throws tying the game at 90 with 36 seconds left on the game clock.

Ahelegbe got fouled following an offensive rebound put back and hit both of his free throws putting the Ice back up 92-90. The three point shot by the Alley Cats' Fountain missed the mark and Larry Jones grabbed the rebound and was fouled immediately. With five tickets on the clock, Jones hit both free throws making the final score 94-90.

Leading scorers for the Ice, both with a double-double, were Jamel Gooding and Jamel Stanten. Gooding finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds while Stanten had 22 points and 12 rebounds. Levy Jones and Emeka Okonkwo each had 10 points and had 10 and 8 boards respectively for the Ice. The win pushed the Ice record to 13-10. For more information, visit www.toledoice.com or www.abalive.com.

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.



American Basketball Association Stories from January 25, 2006


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