Steel City Yellow Jackets Journal

  by Thomas Leturgey with Arianna Rosemond Less than 24-hours after defeating a Burning River Buckets team that played with only five members of the team, the Steel City Yellow Jackets faced one of their toughest opponents in the Binghamton Bulldogs. The home team was able to come from behind in the final moments of the fourth quarter and came away with an impressive 110-99 victory. The Yellow Jackets came out fast against the Bulldogs, with Brandon Franklin, Claude Scott Jr. and Tone Reddic, Sr. setting a quick, 8-2 pace. The Yellow Jackets extended their early lead to 13-7 before the Bulldogs started to gain their footing. The Yellow Jackets came back and had a 20-9 lead with 3:54 to go in the first quarter. The Bulldogs had their own run, and at the end of the first quarter, Ace Pippen's club was up 23-21. In the opening seconds of the second quarter, the Bulldogs tied the game at 23. Tim Jackson added two unanswered buckets and the Yellow Jackets were ahead 28-23. The Bulldogs ...

by Thomas Leturgey with Arianna Rosemond The Steel City Yellow Jackets improved to 12-0 Saturday Night, after a hard-fought battle against a game Burning River Buckets team, 118-94. The ABA's #18 Buckets (8-3) came into the contest with only five player on the bench, and Head Coach Patrick Koenigs dressed in case he was needed on the hardcourt. They had come off of a win last week, by defeating the Indy Naptown Pros 120-106. The #2 Yellow Jackets had a nail-biting, last-second, come-from-behind win against the Ohio Bruins last weekend, 126-121. [Chula Vista Suns 12-0 were the #1 team in the land last week. They were to play the Tijuana Black Sheep in Mexico Saturday Night. The game had not been played at press-time.] Co-Captain Gilmore Cummings scored the first 8 points of the contest, and the Yellow Jackets were in full control of the game from the outset. On the strength of a flurry of missed shots, the Buckets did not score their first points of the game until 3:49 to go in the ...

The Steel City Yellow Jackets celebrate with family and friends following their hard-fought 126-121 win against the Ohio Bruins. Photo Yellow Jackets Facebook. by Thomas Leturgey In the first few seconds of the Steel City Yellow Jacket's game with the Ohio Bruins on January 15, the home team was behind by 11-2. In the 2021-2022 season, that had not yet happened to Coach Ace Pippen's team at "A Giving Heart" Community Center in Pittsburgh's Allentown neighborhood. Normally, the #3 Yellow Jackets score early and often, leaving their opponent's scrambling. Now, it was the 10-0 Pittsburgh's squad turn to readjust and climb the scoring hill. "Do me a favor and calm yourself down. It's adversity, we got this. All we have to do is finish," were the words captured by Pippens to his team. According to Arianna Rosemond, the team's perpetually positive and professional scorekeeper, the Yellow Jackets have been clawing for eight years to reach an ABA...

by Thomas Leturgey with Arianna Rosemond By the time Tone Reddic, Sr. scored Saturday night, the Ohio Bruins had already run up an 11-2 lead in the game between top 10 ABA contenders. In fact, this was the first home game of the season in which the Steel City Yellow Jackets were caught on their heels. The #3 team in the ABA standings found themselves running to catch up to the inspired Bruins. At one point in the first quarter, the Bruins had a 31-10 lead on the Yellow Jackets, who seemed legitimately taken aback by the offense. It was the first time at home all season in which the Yellow Jackets were reeling. At the end of the first quarter, Pittsburgh's unbeaten team was behind 20-39. The Yellow Jackets appeared to sense a switch in momentum, but a substitution disagreement brought the game to a grinding half with 7:30 remaining in the first half, and Ohio up 48-36. A Bruins player entered the game without proper play stoppage, and the discussion over the infraction took away Yel...

  by Thomas Leturgey and Arianna Rosemond   The Steel City Yellow Jackets improved to 7-0 after defeating the Roc City Ravens Saturday night and the Central Pennsylvania Kings Sunday afternoon, 120-85, at A Giving Heart gymnasium in Pittsburgh. The Yellow Jackets were strong from the tip off, which was won by Justin Hamilton and co-captain Tone Reddic Sr. scored the first two-point bucket. Reddic lead the swarm with 30-points, and James Jackson netted another 27. Brandon Franklin added 18 points and Brandon Johnson had 12 points. Coach Ace Pippens (center) rallies the Steel City Yellow Jackets. Photo courtesy of the Steel City Yellow Jackets. The Kings defeated the York Buccaneers Saturday evening, 103-101. Fresh Brown lead the opposition with 19 points, and Christian Ray added 14. Five of the Central PA players scored in double figures; the Yellow Jackets had four. The Yellow Jackets lead throughout the matinee, with 49-17 through the first quarter. It was 84-30 at the half. ...

by Thomas Leturgey The Steel City Yellow Jackets overcame a 2-0 early game deficit to power past a game Roc City Ravens team 141-101 in Pittsburgh. Yellow Jackets co-captain Tone Reddic Sr., lead the club with 27 points, and co-captain Gilmore Cummings was right behind with 26 points. Gilmore lead the team with 5 3-pointers. Brandon Johnson, on the strength of four three-pointers, added 20 points to the tally. The Yellow Jackets lead 32-15 after the first quarter, and 74-41 at half time. At the conclusion of the first half, the teams got into a competitive spat, but tempers were quickly squelched. In the opening moments of the second half, Roc City began to close the gap; however, the Yellow Jackets stormed back. With 7:46 remaining in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets had a 40-point lead at 90-50. The score was 107-71 after three quarters before the final tally. Steven Vorum had four points for the Yellow Jackets in the final moments of the game. Seven Yellow Jackets scored in dou...