Knights vs. Pro Cats
Published on April 3, 2002 under American Basketball Association (ABA)
Kansas City Knights News Release
THE GAME: Tonight against the Kentucky Pro Cats, the Knights will attempt to extend their ABA-record winning streak to 21 games and end their regular season schedule at home with a perfect 20-0 record. The Knights final game at Kemper will be played as scheduled on April 14, but the opponent will be an ABA All-Star team (not the Southern California Surf) and the game will not count in the regular season standings. The Knights clinched first place in the ABA regular season standings on Sunday night with a 129-105 victory at Kentucky. The Knights will receive a bye in the ABA Tournament, which will be played next week.
THE LAST GAME: The Knights won their 20th straight game and clinched the ABA regular season title with a 129-105 victory over the Pro Cats in Kentucky. The Knights led by just seven points at the half, but outscored the Pro Cats 42-26 in the third quarter and ran away with the game.
Seven of the eight Knights players scored in double figures. Pete Mickeal continued his strong play with 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Nick Bradford and Rick Hughes each tallied 20 points. Rex Walters notched a double-double with 13 points and 12 assists.
The Pro Cats were led by David Shelton, who had 22 points. THE KNIGHTS: The sizzling Knights have won 20 in a row and 23 of their last 24 after starting the season with a 7-5 record. The Knights winning streak is the longest by a Kansas City pro sports team and the longest in the ABA's recent history. The Knights have scored at least 110 points in 24 of their last 26 games.
The Knights added some needed height to their roster this week by signing former Colorado State star John Ford. The 6-10 Ford will be in uniform tonight. The Knights starting center Doug Smith will miss the remainder of the season with a back injury. Jason Williams is questionable for tonight's game because of the flu.
The Knights boast two of the ABA's Top 10 scorers. Pete Mickeal leads the Knights and is fifth in the league with an average of 23.2 points per game. The Knights are 22-2 in the 24 games Mickeal has played with the team. Maurice Carter is the ABA's sixth-leading scorer with an average of 23.0 points per contest.
Kansas City also has two players among the ABA's Top 10 in assists. Rex Walters is dishing out 5.9 assists per game to rank sixth in the league, while David Vanterpool averages 5.0 dishes per outing to rank 10th.
After tonight, the Knights have just one more home game at Kemper: April 14 vs. ABA All-Stars (team to be announced soon). The Knights have three more away games before the tournament: April 4 at Las Vegas, April 7 at Detroit and April 8 at Kentucky. The April 13 game between the Knights and Dogs in Detroit has been cancelled. THE PRO CATS: The Pro Cats will be without two of their top players tonight because of injuries. Kentucky's top scorer David Shelton (26.3 ppg and 9.6 rpg) and Derrick Lyons (10.5 ppg) did not make the trip to Kansas City. The Pro Cats still feature talented players like Marcus Hill (15.4 ppg), Gary Lumpkin (12.8 ppg) and Chris Bacon (13.8 ppg). The Pro Cats have struggled on the road this year, winning just two of their 13 road games.
THE SERIES: The Knights own a 4-1 record against the Pro Cats, including wins in the last three meetings. The Knights defeated the Pro Cats in both games played at Kemper, winning the games by an average of 24.5 points. The Knights posted a 136-109 victory over the Pro Cats at Kentucky on Sunday night. Here is a breakdown of the season series:
Date Score KC Leading Scorer SC Leading Scorer
1/10 @KC 133, Kent 105 Doug Smith 28 Melvin Levitt 31
1/12 @Kent 121, KC 108 Maurice Carter 34 David Shelton 41
1/16 @KC 121, Kent 82 Derek Grimm 24 Jack Jennings 24
3/3 KC 105, @Kent 93 Pete Mickeal 34 Chris Bacon 17
3/31 KC 129, @Kent 105 Pete Mickeal 25 David Shelton 22
ABA PLAYOFF TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCED: The ABA announced on Tuesday that the playoff tournament to decide the champion of the second season would be held in two cities, Anaheim and Las Vegas, beginning Wednesday, April 10th. All seven ABA teams will participate in a single elimination tournament with three games to be played at the Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday, April 11 and 12, the tournament will move to the Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.
The Knights, the regular season league champion, will receive a bye in the first round. The Southern California Surf will play the Indiana Legends; the Phoenix Eclipse will play the Las Vegas Slam; and the Kentucky Pro Cats will play the defending ABA champion Detroit Dogs in the first round.
The Knights will play the winner of the Detroit-Kentucky game in one semi-final on April 11. The other semi-final will feature the Southern California-Indiana winner versus the Phoenix-Las Vegas winner. The finals will be held on April 12. Times for all games will be announced shortly.
According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, the format of the tournament and the dates were determined by two major considerations including venue availability and extraordinary sponsorship opportunities in both cities. Newman was quoted, "Our decision to schedule the tournament this way was an easy one to make. The standings were already determined and the corporate and community support provided based on playing these dates was too good to pass. Our team owners made the schedule adjustments necessary to accommodate these opportunities."
Mike Carroll, Southern California Surf co-owner and a member of the ABA Executive Committee added, "We believe Wednesday will be a great showcase for the ABA. We have an exciting day planned. And we've invited over 20 prospective expansion owners to attend the Wednesday games and hope to be able to announce several expansion teams before the end of the tournament." Tickets are available at the Anaheim Convention Center and Thomas & Mack Ticket offices in Las Vegas.
THE COACHES: Kevin Pritchard, who was a starting point guard on the University of Kansas' 1988 NCAA Championship team, returns for his second season as the Knights head coach and his first as the team's general manager. Last season, Pritchard's Knights overcame the loss of seven players to the NBA to finish with a 24-17 overall record, third best in the ABA. Under his direction, Kansas City was the league's second-highest scoring team with an average of 112 points per game. Because of the seven NBA defections, the Knights were forced to use 23 different players in games during the 2000-2001 campaign, yet remained one of the league's best teams.
The 34-year-old Pritchard has an outstanding basketball pedigree. During his college playing days at the University of Kansas, he was coached by both Larry Brown, now the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, and current Jayhawks head coach Roy Williams. His first head coach as an NBA player was Don Nelson, who now directs the Dallas Mavericks fortunes. He ranks seventh on KU's career scoring list with 1,692 points. He was an All-Big Eight pick as a senior and a three-time All-Big Eight Academic Team selection. Following his distinguished college career, he was chosen in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors. He played in 94 games during his four years in the NBA, making stops at Golden State, San Antonio, Boston, Miami, Philadelphia and Vancouver. Pritchard has a 54-22 (.711) record as the Knights head coach.
Ralph Underhill's coaching career spans over three decades. At the collegiate level, he spent 18 seasons ('78-96) as head coach at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and six years ('72-78) at the helm of Tennessee-Chattanooga's basketball program. He posted an outstanding 356-162 record as head coach at Wright State, and led the school to the '83 NCAA Division II National Championship. He coached the Croatian National Basketball Team for two years ('99-01) before joining the Pro Cats. He has a 12-20 (.375) record as the Pro Cats head coach.
NEXT GAME: On Sunday, April 14, the Knights will play a team of ABA All-Stars instead of the Southern California Surf. Tip off is set for 4:15 p.m. This a change from the original 3:00 p.m. tip off. The ABA All-Star team will be announced shorly.
SLAM DUNK CONTEST: The finals of the Hot 103 Jamz Slam will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 14 preceding the Knights game against the ABA All-Stars. The slam dunk contest, which benefits the Harris Youth Foundation, is open to anyone 18 years and older with a $5 donation to the Harris Youth Foundation. Register online at www.kansascityknights.com. KNIGHTS ON RADIO: All 21 of the Knights home games can be heard live on KCXL Radio (1140 AM) and on the Internet at www.kcxl.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 April 3, 2002
- Morris Signs on with Surf - Southern California Surf
- Knights vs. Pro Cats - Kansas City Knights
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