Steelheads travel to face Wizards

January 30, 2006 - Continental Basketball Association 1 (CBA 1)
Gary Steelheads News Release


The Gary Steelheads hit the road for their fourth game in five days, meeting the Dakota Wizards Monday night at the Bismarck Civic Center in Bismarck, North Dakota. The teams will meet a second time on Wednesday night.

The Steelheads take a 16-14 record into this game, following a 100-84 victory over the Albany Patroons at the Genesis Center on Sunday night. The victory comes on the heels of two frustrating losses at Rockford and against Sioux Falls. In the latter game, Gary relinquished a 21 point lead in the final quarter as the defending CBA champs scored 50 points in the final quarter to win. The Sunday night victory over the Patroons stopped a three-game winning streak for Albany and ended a two-game losing streak for the Steelheads.

Gary took early control of the game and never relinquished it, winning all four quarters to maximize the victory with 7 quarter points. The Steelheads held the Patroons to .383 field goal shooting, while shooting .474 from the field themselves. Gary won the boards 47-42, while committing just 14 turnovers for the game.

It was a team victory for the Steelheads, with three players contributing double-double performances. Guard Eric Chatfield scored 19 points with 10 assists, while forward Edmund Saunders scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and center Chris Alexander scored 11 points with 10 rebounds. Forward Randy Holcomb came within one digit of a double-double with 24 points and 9 rebounds. And Jimmie "Snap" Hunter paced all scorers with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocked shots.

This game will air on WJOB (1230khz) in Hammond and WIMS (1420khz) in Michigan City. Internet listeners can hear the broadcast of the game at the WJOB Radio web site (www.wjobcalpress.com). Airtime for the game is scheduled for 7:00PM CST.

Fish Hooks

- This is the 23rd CBA meeting between the Steelheads and the Wizards, and the third this season. Dakota has a 13-9 lead in the series. This season, the Steelheads have won both meetings. On December 3rd, Gary prevailed in a 137-127 overtime thriller at the Genesis Center in Gary. On January 7th, the Steelheads won again 96-89 in Gary. Tonight's game is the first of two meetings in Bismarck.

- Gary's 137-127 overtime victory was unusual in two respects. First, the 137 points scored by the Steelheads ranked at the time as the highest single game score in the CBA (subsequently surpassed by the Yakama Sun Kings). Second, the Steelheads overcame a 34-rebound deficit to win.

- The Steelheads have won 6 of their last 10 games, reaching a season high water mark of three games over .500 twice in the past two weeks. Gary firmly retains second place in the Eastern Conference, despite winning only the Albany game this week.

- The Steelheads opened the season winning 3 of their first 4 road games. Since then, Gary has been 1-8. On January 15th, the Steelheads lost at Michigan on a last-second bank shot by Willie Simms 95-94. Gary's last road win was on January 6th, 109-102 at Albany.

- The Steelheads received a big lift as the second half of the CBA season began. Forward Randy Holcomb finished a ten-day call-up with the Chicago Bulls prior to the All Star Game. He flew to Boise for the mid-season classic and was named the game's MVP, the first player in Steelheads' history to earn an MVP award in the mid-season classic. Holcomb earned the honor, even though his Eastern team fell to the Western stars, 119-110. The 6-foot-8 forward scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a losing cause. Holcomb has anchored the Steelheads' front line from the beginning of the season. The last player cut in the Chicago Bulls' training camp, Holcomb ranked 9th in the CBA in scoring (20.2 ppg.) and 7th in the league in rebounding (7.8 rpg.) when he was signed to a 10-day contract. His six double-doubles still leads the team.

- Guard Jimmie "Snap" Hunter continues as the CBA's leading scorer with a 27.2 ppg. average. "Snap" now has logged three of the CBA's top six individual game scoring performances this year, including his 41-point effort at Rockford Thursday night. Hunter also ranks among the league leaders in assists (5.4 apg.), steals (2.0 spg.), three point shooting (.446) and blocked shots (1.0 bpg.).

- Steelheads' coach Jaren Jackson believes "Snap" is ready for the NBA. "Snap has proven that he belongs in the NBA," said Jackson, an NBA veteran himself. "He has improved his defensive game to compliment his great scoring ability. Since the beginning of this season, he has shown that he is the best guard in the CBA. I am happy to have been a part of his improved play this season. I have been in awe of Snap's basketball skills since becoming his coach. I mention him in the same light as many of the top NBA guards I played against in my own NBA career. Any NBA team will be lucky to have him."

- 7-foot-1 center Chris Alexander was the Steelheads' most nominee for CBA Player of the Week two weeks ago. Alexander turned in two double-double performances in Gary victories over Idaho and Yakama. He averaged 16 ppg. and 13.5 rpg. for the week. Rockford guard Marlon Parmer won the award that week, averaging 23 ppg. and 11 apg. for the week. Alexander scored 12 points, grabbed 8 rebounds and blocked 5 shots against Sioux Falls Saturday night.

- Forward Edmund Saunders is continuing his solid contribution up front. In 14 games with the Steelheads, Saunders has averaged 14.3 ppg. and 7.6 rpg. He scored a career high 31 points at Albany on January 6th. Saunders contributed a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds against Sioux Falls Saturday night. He followed up that game with another double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds in the victory over Albany.

- Guard Brian Chase had a pair of sensational games earning him the team's Player of the Week nomination three weeks ago. Against the Michigan Mayhem, Chase connected for CBA career-best 26 points with 8 steals. The next night at Sioux Falls, Chase contributed a double-double 25 points with 10 assists. The honor went to Maurice Baker of Dakota. Chase hit 5 three point baskets in a 20-point effort against Rockford Thursday night. He scored 16 points with 5 assists against Sioux Falls Saturday night.



Continental Basketball Association 1 Stories from January 30, 2006


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.

OurSports Central