Illness & Injuries Plague Wolverines, Limit Teams To One Half, 78-31 Loss

 by Thomas Leturgey

Traveling long distances for American Basketball Association (ABA) games on the weekend have always been difficult. The modern-day ABA is a working man's league and that oftentimes means players are in demand for their life sustaining day jobs on Saturdays and/or Sundays, and traveling four hours one way, play a game and come back is problematic.

Add seasonal illnesses and the Thanksgiving holiday, and the #17 ranked Western Pennsylvania Wolverines are at a disadvantage.

Don Wayne's club took the 4.5-hour drive to Wyoming Clutch in northeastern Pennsylvania with only five players. Even with the ABA's relaxed penalty policy, five players playing 12 minutes a quarter for four sessions is a tough task. Plus, when they play a team that's as resilient and talented as Wyoming Valley's, the chances of a win was tough.

The Wolverines arrived with Stephon McGinnis, Cliff McNair, Randy Whitley, Dyami Fox and Desmond Saunders. And Fox was injured last week and wasn't expected back for nearly a month, so he couldn't have gone in at 100%.

Wyoming sped out to a 46-20 lead in the first quarter. However, McGinnis lead the Wolverines with 9 points in that first 12 minutes. Last week he scored 50 points, including the historic five-point shot from behind the half-court line. 

McNair added six points, Whitley had one three-pointer and Fox had two. 

In the second quarter, McGinnis had six and McNair added five. Wyoming had 32 points.

At that point of the evening, the two clubs decided to avoid further injury, and quite simply...to get out of Dodge before it got too late, the teams called the game off at half time.

The now 2-1 Wolverines have a busy weekend ahead of them. The Underdogs visit Triadelphia, West Virginia on December 2 and the Wolverines travel to Columbus, Ohio on Sunday.