Indiana Lyons Notch Two Home Wins

Team News

The Indiana Lyons hosted two American Basketball Association (ABA) games this weekend in Bosstick Gym and came out on the other side with two much-needed victories.

Entering the weekend on a three-game losing streak and sporting an uncharacteristic 1-4 record overall, the Lyons were seeking their first win at home on Saturday against the No. 21-ranked team in the ABA, the Chi-Town Rebels (3-1).

The Lyons’ four losses all came at the hands of teams ranked in the Top 25 of the more than 150 teams in the ABA, and the Rebels represented their fourth straight ranked opponent.

From the opening tipoff, the hometown team showed that it was clearly tired of losing.

The Lyons played suffocating defense and forced numerous turnovers while also taking and making high-percentage shots on offense in a magical first quarter that saw them hold a 35-15 lead after the first 12 minutes of play. They extended that lead to 52-17 at one point in the second quarter.

Eric Messer, Mike Carter, and Donnell Jones turned in particularly effective performances from the bench as the Lyons cruised to a 137-80 blowout victory.

Sunday’s game was a different story with the Ohio Kings (2-0) visiting from Cincinnati. The two teams always play each other closely, and this weekend was no different.

In a closely contested battle throughout, neither team held more than a 6-point lead against each other, and the first half ended with the Kings holding a 44-43 lead.

The beginning of the second half was a rough one for the Lyons, as they came out of the locker room cold and quickly found themselves down 60-45 with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

However, Gerald “Cam” Campbell and 7’0” Alex “A.B.” Brown seemingly hoisted the team onto their backs, going on a tear with their shooting and defense to lead the Lyons back to a 67-66 lead at the end of the third period.

That proved to be the motivation that the Lyons needed, and everyone snapped back into top form in the fourth frame, holding off a late Kings surge and coming away with their second home win in as many days, 94-90.

Campbell led the team in scoring on Sunday with 27 points, while Brown and Dillon Ware each contributed 18. Mike Pugh added 17 points to the win.

Video of both games can be found on the Indiana Lyons’ YouTube channel.

The Lyons, now 3-4 on the season, will look to even up their record against the defending ABA Midwest Region champions, the Music City Jazz, at Bosstick Gym on Saturday. Doors will open at 4 p.m. with tipoff scheduled for 5 p.m.

The Nashville-based Jazz beat the Lyons in the waning seconds of the Midwest Region championship game in St. Louis in March of 2022, so the Lyons will have revenge on their minds in the first rematch since that game.

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