Steelheads battle Mayhem Friday
December 1, 2005 - Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)
Gary Steelheads News Release
The Gary Steelheads take on the Michigan Mayhem Friday night for the third time this season, and the second meeting at the L.C. Walker Arena in Muskegon. The Steelheads have won both previous meetings, 93-82 in Gary on November 22nd and 115-108 in Muskegon on November 25th.
The Steelheads improved their record to 4-2 on Wednesday night, defeating the Albany Patroons in overtime, 113-111. It took a fourth-quarter comeback and overtime for Gary to pull out a hard-fought victory. In the process, the Steelheads strengthened their hold on second place in the CBA's Eastern Conference by picking up five quarter points with the win.
The Steelheads opened quickly, taking a 31-23 lead at the end of the first quarter. But Albany won the second quarter 28-20, tying the game at halftime at 53 apiece. Albany won the third quarter 28-22, but the Steelheads reversed the score in the fourth quarter 28-22, forcing the overtime.
Albany scored the first four points of the overtime, before Jimmy "Snap" Hunter hit a jumper and was fouled. Hunter missed the foul shot but retrieved his own rebound and fed Eric Chatfield for a three-pointer that gave the Steelheads the lead. Chatfield then stole the ball from Albany's Carl Mitchell and Hunter connected once again to increase the lead to 108-105. Hunter hit two more field goals and one free throw down the stretch to give Gary its final margin of victory. He paced all scorers with 32 points. Hunter was nominated by the franchise for CBA Player of the Week last week.
Fish Hooks
- With four wins in their last five games, the Gary Steelheads are tied with the Rockford Lightning as the hottest team in the CBA. The surging Steelheads have the second best quarter point average in the CBA at 4.3 (last year the Steelheads' quarter point average was 2.8). They also lead the Eastern Conference with 13.5 quarters won on the season.
- With a 4-2 record, Gary is off to a better start than last season. The Steelheads needed eight games to get their fourth win.
- The Steelheads have been outrebounded in 5 of the 6 games they have played this year.
- Rookie coach Jackson has lead the Gary Steelheads to a winning record in the opening weeks of the 2005-06 CBA season. He has done this with only one returning player from last year's team, and with the loss of three Gary players that appeared in last year's CBA All-Star Game. Further, a majority of the roster has no previous CBA experience.
- Jackson has stressed fundamentals, particularly playing solid defense. Going into Friday night night's game, the Steelheads have allowed just 102.5 ppg. Last year, they allowed 106.2 ppg. to be scored against them. The net improvement is 3.7 ppg. Also, the Steelheads have dramatically reduced their turnovers from 20.0 per game last year to just 13.8 per game this year to date.
- Guard Jimmie "Snap" Hunter was nominated by the Steelheads for CBA Player of the Week. Hunter currently ranks among CBA leaders in three different categories, including 6th in league scoring at 24.0 ppg. He scored 40 points in a victory at Rockford a week ago Sunday. At the time, it was the top scoring effort in the league. For the first week of the season, the honor went to Dakota's Maurice Baker.
- On Thursday, the Michigan Mayhem signed 7-0 Roy Tarpley to a contract. Tarpley previously played in the CBA with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. A product of the University of Michigan, Tarpley played six seasons for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. He averaged 12.6 ppg. And 10 rpg. over his NBA career, all of it with the Mavericks. He was the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year in 1988.
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Continental Basketball Association 1 Stories from December 1, 2005
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