Albany Patroons head coach Derrick Rowland expressed his relief as he sat at LaGuardia Airport on Wednesday morning. This was a much more pleasant alternative compared to a grueling 1,000-mile bus trip to St. Louis for The Basketball League’s East Regional finals.
The Patroons made the decision to fly to Game 1 against the St. Louis Griffins, which is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Thursday at Jennings, Mo. Game 2 will take place at 3 p.m. on Sunday at the Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, and if necessary, Game 3 will be played at 7 p.m. on Monday at the Armory.
To reach the regional finals, the Patroons swept the Newfoundland Rogues in two games to clinch the East Conference title. They secured their spot with an impressive 135-108 victory on Monday at the Armory.
The team is determined to go all the way, as guard Jamil Hood stated, “We’re not satisfied. We’re going for it all. That’s where we are right now.”
Originally, it seemed like the Patroons would have to endure a long and exhausting bus trip to St. Louis due to the challenges of arranging last-minute plane tickets. However, the team made the decision to fly, sparing themselves the brutal journey.
Patroons co-owner Sam Clifford described the potential bus trip as “brutal and exhausting,” especially for just one game. When asked about the price of the plane tickets, Clifford responded, “I think decent is a relative term.”
Last Friday’s victory over the Rogues marked the team’s first flight of the season. In contrast, during the previous year under different ownership, the Patroons embarked on a 12-hour bus ride to the regional finals against the Kokomo Bobcats in Indiana. This year, however, St. Louis eliminated any possibility of a rematch between Albany and Kokomo by defeating the Bobcats in the decisive Game 3 of the Midwest Conference finals.
Rowland acknowledged the challenges that lie ahead against the Griffins, comparing them to the physical Atlantic City Gambits, whom the Patroons overcame in two closely contested, low-scoring games to win the Northeast Division championship. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Rowland said.
Denial of responsibility! VigourTimes is an automatic aggregator of Global media. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, and all materials to their authors. For any complaint, please reach us at – [email protected]. We will take necessary action within 24 hours.
