by Thomas Leturgey
The Steel City Yellow Jackets improved to 8-1 Saturday Night with a 32-point win over West Virginia’s Tri-State Blazers.
Guard Kenny Holmes did his usual thing for the defending American Basketball Association (ABA) champion Yellow Jackets with 47 points, 9 assists and 6 rebounds.
On paper, Ace Pippens’ club was depleted without twins James and Tim Jackson, Gilmore Cummings or 7-foot center Artis Cleveland. But the team did have Holmes, Tone Reddic, Jr. and Amaru Caldwell to lead the way.
Pittsburgh’s franchise, and #5 ranked team had a big free-agent signing during the break with Ryan Montoya. He scored five points in his Yellow Jackets debut.
The Yellow Jackets started with a 32-17 lead at the end of the first quarter. Reddic led the visitors with 11 points and Holmes had 6, which equalled the output of the Keyser, West Virginia club in the first 12 minutes.
Steel City’s club had a 72-52 lead at the end of the first half. Holmes, on the strength of three three-pointers, had 16 points in the second frame. Dominick McClung, who played well in Cleveland’s absence, put up 11 in the second quarter.
The Yellow Jackets continued on strong against Wally Ingram’s club, by leading 109-83 through three quarters. Holmes upped the ante by adding four three-pointers in the 3rd. Reddic contributed seven points. Claude Scott, Jr. added six of his own in the quarter, to have his most productive game of his season.
Brandon Johnson, who had four three-pointers throughout the contest, had two in the fourth quarter. Reddic and Caldwell continued to lead the team on offense in the final round, with others like Holmes and Johnson padding the lead.
Holmes led everyone with 47 points, Reddic posted a strong 34, Caldwell had 20, Johnson added 18, McClung worked for 15, Scott Jr. scored 12, VaShawn Howard 6 and Montoya 5 on the campus of Potomac State College.
Justin Fagen led the Blazers with 26 points and Pat Jones had 25.
This was the Yellow Jackets’ first game since the holiday break began on December 18. After this, the team returns home to Pittsburgh and A Giving Heart Community Center next Saturday to take on the Central Jersey Sharks. Tip off is 7 p.m.
About Post Author
