Fight spoils Vermont victory
Toolbox
By Anna Grearson Staff Writer - Published: January 13, 2008
BURLINGTON – With two skirmishes, two ejections and one open-palmed hit to the back of the head, the rivalry between the American Basketball Association's Vermont Frost Heaves and the Manchester Millrats turned from competitive to frighteningly dangerous on Saturday.
Vermont earned a 109-99 win over the struggling Millrats to remain perfect at Burlington's Memorial Auditorium, but two game-stopping fracases resulting in technicals on Vermont coach Will Voigt, Manchester coach Larry Lessett, Manchester forward Ife Anosike, and the ejection of Vermont guard Dwayne Lee and Manchester guard Ismael Caro. The events dampened the tremendous competition occurring between the endlines for 47 minutes and 10.7 seconds.
A flagrant, open-palmed hit from behind by Anosike to the back of Vermont forward Erik Nelson's head with 49.3 seconds left in the game not only drenched beyond repair the efforts of both squads, it ended the game as Vermont built its largest lead of the night.
Anosike chased Nelson from behind after Nelson brushed by Anosike in the Manchester end of the floor following a Vermont defensive rebound.
"It's obviously awfully disappointing when a player acts like that, and it takes away from all of the positives that they did," Voigt said. "(Our guys) played a phenomenal fourth quarter through a lot of adversity and made big plays when they needed and got stops when they needed. Some guy, who clearly should not be on a basketball court in any league, unfortunately took away from our guys and from our fans. We should be up there celebrating with our fans and unfortunately that's not going to happen."
"It's highly unfortunate," Vermont president and general manager Alex Wolff said. "I think what we're looking at is a situation where Manchester was completely exhausted after they came back from Singapore (two losses) on Thursday. Our guys just got back from Halifax (two wins). Both teams were completely gassed and really frustrated I think. Your mind is telling your body to do something, and you can't do it, and then there's this swing of misfortunes in the fourth quarter. These teams almost know each other too well. They are the two best teams in the league regardless of what the power rankings say. These guys were playing for love, not money, and passion is something that can get heated, it's almost the definition of passion. Both coaches had been tossed from games this year. I think there are all sorts of ways to explain this, but I don't think there's an excuse."Manchester, currently fourth in the ABA, opened a 30-23 lead at the end of the first quarter before second-ranked Vermont made up some ground in the second to close the gap to 47-45 at the half. The Frost Heaves allowed Manchester to snag just two offensive rebounds at that point to Vermont's 13, but the Millrats held a sizable advantage in offensive production, shooting 50 percent to Vermont's 38 percent from the field.
"We talked a lot about protecting the weak side, and when they do that, there are a lot of rebounds there for him," Voigt said of guard Terrance Green's ability to rebound despite being one of the smaller players on the Vermont roster. "People look at the numbers and lose track of the dirty work. Give Terrance all the credit in the world, but our bigs are blocking out and guards are able to come in and scoop up things, so it's a total team effort when a guard can register that many rebounds. He's really improved in that area."
At the 9:09 mark of the third quarter, Lee and Caro were ejected after a melee – the second of the game, the first coming at the 9:30 mark of the second quarter – in front of the Manchester bench. Both incidents involved Lessett and several members of both teams. Voigt picked up his technical reacting to the behavior of Lessett.
"I'm disappointed," Voigt said. "I think the way your team acts is a reflection of you as a coach. It doesn't excuse my actions, but I got very upset when I saw their coach leave the bench to get in the face of one of my players. That's basically what caused my reaction."
Manchester took a 58-54 lead off technical free throws by Al Stewart, who also gave Manchester its biggest lead of the quarter, 73-60, four minutes later.
Vermont rallied on the backs of Dwuan Rice, Antonio Burks and Issa Konare, but the Frost Heaves were still down 87-84 headed into the final 12 minutes of play.
Rice played the point after Lee was ejected and gave Vermont the spark it needed on both ends of the floor.
"He was huge," Voigt said of Rice. "Dwayne Lee goes out and we needed Dwuan to come in and make plays for us, and he did. It's hard – these guys are used to going three minutes at a time and getting a sub, and he didn't have that luxury and he needed to really gut it out, and he was really huge for us. He had a real breakout game."
A three-pointer by Konare capped a 12-5 run by Vermont to open the fourth quarter and gave the Frost Heaves a 94-92 lead with 9:52 to play.
Manchester tied the game at 94 before Green sank a deep jump shot to give Vermont a 96-94 lead that it would not surrender. A defensive change and continued rebounding prowess kept Vermont ahead.
Manchester's Anthony Anderson hit a three-pointer with just over a minute to play and Green went 2-for-4 from the foul line around the one-minute mark for what proved to be the 109-99 final.
Ten seconds later, Anosike's attack ended the game and sent 1,100 fans – many of whom were children – home with a shocking display of recklessness.
"This game was broadcast on the World Wide Web, so anyone from the league office can see this," Wolff said. "We had a (referee) crew here that is from out of the region, they're from upstate New York and in a sense they had a good, neutral look at these two teams. I don't think they did a poor job of trying to control the game. They can't call every little nudge and push. My biggest disappointment is that we had a big crowd with a lot of youth basketball players here. Hopefully they get another look at us (today) at 2 p.m. against Montreal. This isn't what we stand for. We stand for restraint. We wanted to come out here and meet the fans like we always do, but we took them off the floor right away as a precaution. We can do better as a franchise and as a league. It's unfortunate."
Manchester, which falls to 13-8, was led by Anderson with 36 points and six assists, Caro with 16 points and Rob Sanders with 10 points.
Vermont, now 18-3, was paced by Dokun Akingbade with 22 points and nine rebounds, Rice with 19 points, seven assists and four steals, Green with 14 points and seven rebounds, and Burks with 11 points. Vermont outrebounded the Millrats 49-27.
The Frost Heaves host Montreal this afternoon at Memorial at 2 p.m.
"Honestly, to play a game like that takes a lot out of you," Voigt said. "And to have them be your third game in four days and have another the next day at 2 o'clock (is tough). But I'll tell you what: These guys have responded to every challenge all year, whether it be injuries or back-to-backs or four-in-five-days. I'm sure they'll be focused and ready to go for the task at hand."
Vermont will travel to face the Millrats on Feb 2.
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