Vermont's Lee Suspended For One Game
January 14, 2008 - American Basketball Association (ABA)
Vermont Frost Heaves News Release
South Burlington, Vt.-In the aftermath of incidents that took place during Saturday's game in Burlington between the Vermont Frost Heaves and the Manchester Millrats, the American Basketball Association has suspended the Millrats' Ife Anosike for 10 games and Ismael Caro for three games, and ordered the Frost Heaves' Dwayne Lee to sit out one game.
Referees halted the contest, a 109-99 Vermont victory, with 49 seconds to play after the third incident of the afternoon involving the two teams.
Lee will miss the Frost Heaves' next game, at Quebec on Jan. 20. Before the league took its action, Manchester had already released both Anosike and Caro. The suspensions would still apply if they were to be signed by other ABA teams.
Vermont has taken the additional step of fining coach Will Voigt, and wishes to re-emphasize to fans, sponsors and the league that the Frost Heaves will not be party to anything but family-friendly pro basketball.
"I understand that I'm accountable as leader of the team on the floor to ensure that our players don't get drawn into anything that would reflect poorly on the game or our organization," said Voigt. "Whether or not we were provoked, I take responsibility for not doing more to keep things from escalating. And I apologize to any fan who watched this either in person or over the Web."
"At no point during the afternoon did our players leave the bench, and that's a credit to the group that Coach Voigt has assembled," said Vermont president Alexander Wolff. "But our sponsors and fans-including the many first-time visitors to Memorial Auditorium on Saturday-are entitled to nothing less than an unblemished experience. We apologize to them for failing to deliver that. We're enormously proud of what the team has come to stand for, and want to reassure everyone that this high standard remains in place."
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.
American Basketball Association Stories from January 14, 2008
- The State of the ABA - OSC Original by Chris Munson
- Vermont's Lee Suspended For One Game - Vermont Frost Heaves
- Manchester Millrats Issue Apology - Saint John Riptide
- ABA suspends three for altercations in Vermont - ABA
- Ask the CEO - ABA
- Weekly Sports League and Franchise Report - OSC Original by Dan Krieger
- Rainmen Make Roster Changes - Halifax Rainmen
- Millrats 0-2 On Road Trip - Saint John Riptide
- Vermont Frost Heaves Take Over #1 Spot In Power Rankings - ABA
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