Sound of silence: Strong Island ousted by SoCal in ABA Final 4

Published on March 26, 2006 under American Basketball Association (ABA)
Strong Island Sound News Release


Rochester, N.Y.-The Strong Island Sound ran out of magic. After winning 10 consecutive games and reaching the Final Four of the ABA in their inaugural season, they were defeated by the Southern California Legends by a score of 123-110 on Saturday.

The Sound took an early double digit lead led by diminutive guard Jerome "Fridge" Holeman, who scored 12 points in 14 minutes. A dislocated shoulder sustained in the second quarter shelved him for the remainder of the game.

The undersized Sound did not have an answer for SoCal's 7'3" center, Keith Closs, who previously played three seasons in the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers. Closs controlled the paint all game long offensively and defensively, finishing with 10 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks.

Strong Island made a fourth quarter run to cut a sixteen point deficit to six. But that was as close as they came to their third straight post season upset. Chris Sandy led the Sound with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Gary Williams had 19 points and 6 rebounds, Roberto Gittens had a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. Game high scorer was Tarron Williams of SoCal with 32 points.

The ABA Championship game will be played on March 26th at 2:00 pm at the Blue Cross Arena. The host team of the Great 8 Tournament, the Rochester Razorsharks, qualified earlier in the day by defeating the San Jose Skyrockets.

The Strong Island Sound finished the 2005-06 season with an overall 19-15 record (16-14 in the regular season) and were ranked #13 in the ABA Power Rankings, finishing second in the Roger Brown Division. They won their last seven regular season games heading into the playoffs.

The Sound defeated the Birmingham Magicians in Long Island in the first round, and then beat the Strongdogs at Harlem in the second round, knocking off the division winner. By doing so, they were a surprise entry at the Rochester tournament and had to face the #1 seeded Indiana Alleycats on Wednesday. Down by 17 in the fourth quarter, the Sound came all the way back to take a two point lead. Indiana tied the game at the buzzer to send it into overtime.

The game was still tied after the first OT and the Sound eventually pulled out a 128-126 Double OT win when team captain Gary Williams hit two free throws.

The Cinderella Sound definitely were wearing their best shoes for the 'big dance'. Unfortunately the glass slipper fell off before midnight.

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.

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American Basketball Association Stories from March 26, 2006


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