Tropics Glad They Have Reyes
December 3, 2006 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Miami Tropics News Release
ORLANDO - With his dad watching him play for the Tropics for the first time, Angelo Reyes came up huge in Miami's fourth straight win on Saturday night.
And to think that the Tropics almost forgot Reyes on their road trip. But more on that in a moment.
Reyes, a 6-8 power forward, scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds to lead the Tropics to a 99-86 victory over the Orlando Aces.
"It's always a great experience when you have family there to see you play," said Reyes, whose dad lives in Tampa and made the short drive over with his wife and two daughters. "It's been a couple of years since my dad has been able to come see me play."
The Tropics, in their first season in the ABA, improved to 4-2, while the Aces fell to 0-4.
But even though the Aces are winless, they were not easy to beat. The Tropics started poorly, perhaps because of a letdown after their huge win over Jacksonville on Friday.
The Aces led 24-15 after the first quarter, which was probably the worst period the Tropics have played all season.
The Aces extended their lead to 14 points before the Tropics rallied. Miami closed the first half on a 20-5 run and took a 42-41 lead into intermission.
Reyes had 12 points and 6 rebounds in the first half, showing once again why the Tropics signed him three games ago. Miami is 3-0 with Reyes in the lineup.
But they almost forgot about Reyes when the team bus - making the trek from Miami to Jacksonville on Thursday - momentarily left without Reyes, who was in the bathroom at a rest stop.
It is one of those funny stories that happens in sports sometimes. Fortunately for the Tropics, they realized after about 15 minutes that their star big man was missing.
"It was kind of funny," Reyes said about being left behind. "It wasn't like I was panicking or anything."
Reyes said he called a couple of teammates - Carlos Escalera and Pachi Cruz - to tell them to alert the bus driver. But Cruz had his phone off and Escalera's wife had Carlos' phone back in Miami.
"So I just waited," Reyes said. "And after awhile they text-messaged me that they were coming back."
Good thing, because Reyes turned up the heat in the third quarter on Saturday. He had 7 points in the period.
Reserve guard Andre Smith also came up big in the quarter, snapping his recent slump by hitting a big three-pointer and adding a steal and an assist.
By the time the third quarter was over, the Tropics had stretched their lead to 71-66.
The Tropics pulled away in the final period despite some poor foul shooting, a problem that has hurt them all season. On Saturday, the Tropics made just 58 percent (22 of 38).
As for their individual performers, forward Terence Shelman nearly had a double-double with 17 points and 9 rebounds. He made 7 of his 14 shots.
Escalera, the Tropics' leading scorer for the season, had 23 points.
And Cruz, the team's point guard, nearly had a triple-double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists.
"We did not have a lot of energy to start the game," Tropics Coach Ed Auricchio said. "But that is what happens when we play back to back. Orlando had not played since Tuesday, so they had an advantage."
Auricchio said his team did not run as much as usual.
"I didn't think we had the legs for that," he said. "We compensated by going to Angelo and Shel inside. They were real men in the paint. I thought we controled the tempo after the first quarter."
With the Tropics playing at Palm Beach at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday - their third game in 53 hours - Auricchio said he is glad he has the depth to rest some of his weary players.
"You never know who is going to break out on any given night," he said. "Tonight it was Angelo. I think that once he gets comfortable with our offense, he will get 25 points and 15 rebounds on a consistent basis."
Unless he gets left at a rest stop ...
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 December 3, 2006
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