Despite An Intense Marathon, The Steel City Yellow Jackets Advance To Semi-Finals, 139-133

 

The Steel City Yellow Jackets celebrate after their first round victory over Las Vegas. Photo by Thomas Leturgey.

by Thomas Leturgey

At 2:35 minutes, the first round of the Final 8 playoffs been the Steel City Yellow Jackets and the Las Vegas Royals resembled a Major League baseball game instead of an ABA contest. But the long, afternoon ultimately worked out well for Ace Pippens' squad, as the Yellow Jackets came away with a hard-fought 139-133 win in Baltimore.

From the outset Friday afternoon, the Royals were doubling down. They came out strong against the Yellow Jackets, who had a brief 2-0 lead thanks to a Claude Scott, Jr. score, but fell behind quickly as Brandon Green and Sir Washington quickly jumped to a 6-2 lead. Tone Reddic, Sr. hit a three-pointer and Scott hit a couple of jumpers to make it 9-9.

Both teams scored frequently in the first quarter, with Gilmore Cummings, Scott, and Jason Arrington, Sr. adding points. Regardless, the Royals weren't going anywhere. The game was intense as both teams drew blood during all four quarters. It took strong efforts by Kenny Holmes and Tim Jackson to assure a 34-31 lead at the end of the first 12 minutes.

The game's fervor grew in the second quarter. While the officials did allow the players a lot of leeway when it came to physicality, at times, they had a difficult time keeping the game in check. Tempers flared throughout the contest, and minutes frequently passed by as complaints about different players drawing blood went unresolved. 

Holmes extended the lead early in the second quarter, but Anthony McNeely's club kept pushing. When the Final 8 began, the Yellow Jackets were the Number 2 seed and the Royals came in at #7. At 15-7, the Royals had the most losses of any club in the competition. But they played with purpose. Starters Dominique Watson, Pauly Coleman, Sir Washington and Fred Banks all came to win, as did Jaiden Martin off the bench. 

The game really got choppy toward the end of the first half. There was a delay of game foul called against the Yellow Jackets and Co-Captain Gilmore Cummings was crushed right before the conclusion of the first half, without the benefit of a foul. The Royals had battled back and were winning 70-68 at the end of the first two quarters.

When the third quarter began, Las Vegas extended their lead, but Co-Captain Reddic tied things up at 72 with 10:32 to go in the third. Coleman and Green helped the Royals pull ahead, but Cummings and Holmes answered. Free throws played a big role in this game, as there were plenty of fouls and plenty of players had unfettered opportunities from the charity stripe. 

Scott helped the Yellow Jackets cause with a four-pointer through 3D and a thunderous dunk that helped keep the team close. Holmes was also impressive from the free throw line. Cummings was clobbered a second time, no foul was called, and he left the game for a short while.

A Las Vegas player was scratched and a time out was called with 5:18 to play in that quarter. The Yellow Jackets took a lead as Reddic and Tim Jackson led the way; however, Las Vegas was never out of the game. At the end of the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets had overcome the deficit and had a 108-97 lead. There was a puzzling turn of events when Jackson fell out of bounds and was called for a foul because he didn't hand over the basketball to an official. 

Holmes, Scott and Tim Jackson extended the lead to 115-99 before the referees had another "blood concern." The Royals' Jaiden Martin came on exceptionally strong in the final 12 minutes. For a segment of the fourth quarter, he alone was keeping the Las Vegas squad in the game. Sir Washington also contributed, but in the grand scheme, the Yellow Jackets kept enough offense going and despite a spurt at the end, came up with a 139-133 win. 

The Yellow Jackets face off against the victorious and defending Jacksonville Giants Saturday afternoon in the ABA semi-finals.