Strong Island Buries Brooklyn, 115-101

Published on March 11, 2007 under American Basketball Association (ABA)
Strong Island Sound News Release


Selden, NY- The Strong Island Sound completed their second regular season in franchise history with a 115-101 victory over the Brooklyn Comets at Suffolk Community College on Saturday evening. Heading into the playoffs, the Sound have won five out of their last six games and finished with a 20-13 mark, four more wins than their inaugural season total.

Brooklyn came out of the gate fast and had a 12-point lead with 3:45 left in the opening quarter. Having three starters 6'8" or taller proved to be an advantage for the Comets in the early going. The Sound made a run led by Tommie "Gunzz" Eddie and Aaron Williams to end the quarter only trailing by a score of 33-29.

Williams (8 for 13 from the field, 23 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals) was a one-man show at the start of the second quarter. He tied the score at 35 within the first two minutes with his fourth 3-pointer of the game. Overall, he hit 5 of 7 from downtown.

All-Star Greg Plummer, the game-high scorer with 28 points, hit a baseline three and a runner in consecutive possessions to give the Sound a 42-40 lead at the 5:28 mark. The Comets closed out the half with a run of their own and led 53-47 heading into the break.

The second half was all Sound. "We came out with intensity," Eddie said. Strong Island outscored Brooklyn by 20 points in the third and fourth quarters to coast to victory. "We came out [in the second half] in a zone defense to give them a different look," said Sound head coach Dytanya Mixson. "They then had to go to a smaller line-up."

The Sound tied the game at 55 with 9:27 left in the third when Plummer hit a three. They took the lead once again when Williams made a steal, Eddie missed a shot but Plummer tipped it in. "I focus on hitting the boards," said Plummer. "It's no secret we like to shoot jump shots. With all of those, there are a lot of opportunities for rebounds." The guard out of Eckerd College also had 7 boards, 8 assists and 2 steals.

The last two minutes of the quarter was the turning point in the game. Williams hit a three-point shot to make the score 79-76 Strong Island. Raphael Edwards then went the length of the floor for a lay-up and was fouled on the play. He converted the three-point play, and Plummer hit another three to give Strong Island an 85-76 lead to complete a 9-0 run heading into the fourth quarter.

Williams made a steal in the Brooklyn back-court, igniting the 3D light and converted to extend the Sound lead to 100-84 with 3:12 left in the game. Strong Island worked down the shot clock on every possession and Brooklyn could not get the deficit within single digits, even with a strong game from former Sound player Donald "Spider" Harrison, who scored a double double (15 points, 11 rebounds). Miguel "Slim" Milliem (7 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks) put the exclamation point on the victory with an alley-oop slam from Chris Grant with 20 seconds left.

"We came off the loss at Rochester [Thursday] and that humbled us a bit," Plummer said. "We have to work hard every game."

Mixson stated, "We're looking pretty good now with four out of five wins. It's not going to matter who we face in the playoffs. We'll be ready for whoever comes."

The following day, the announcement was made that the Strong Island Sound will host the Maryland Nighthawks and 7'9" center Sun Ming Ming on Friday, March 16th at 7 pm at Suffolk Community College in Selden. The first-round ABA playoff game will be the only home contest for Strong Island. The tournament is single-elimination and the winner will visit the higher seeded team next weekend.

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 11, 2007


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