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They're in T-Dawgs' house now

Tampa Bay comes home after a 1-2 start to its inaugural season.

By MIKE READLING

© St. Petersburg Times, published December 31, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- Three games into the season the Tampa Bay ThunderDawgs are starting to get a feel for this thing called American Basketball Association 2000.

Tonight they are going to get a feel for playing at home.

After starting the league's inaugural season at Chicago, Memphis and Detroit, the ThunderDawgs (1-2) play their home opener at 5 p.m. at the Times Arena at Bayfront Center against Chicago.

The game is a rematch of the opener in which the Skyliners (2-0) defeated the 'ThunderDawgs 120-100 at AllState Arena in front of 2,172 fans.

The Skyliners are led by former DePaul coach Joey Meyer and he has several former Blue Demons on his roster, including David Booth and Ronnie Fields, who combined for 47 points in the first game.

It didn't help coach Darryl Dawkins that his ThunderDawgs, designed to be a fastbreak-type team, got off to a slow start. Tampa Bay trailed 28-18 after the first quarter and could not catch up. Chicago sealed the victory in the third quarter by outscoring the 'ThunderDawgs 40-25.

Some ThunderDawg highlights: guard Kerry Thompson had 21 points and five assists, forward John Strickland had 16 rebounds and guard Lonnie Harrell shot 4-for-8 from three-point range and finished with 27 points.

Tampa Bay followed that with a win Thursday night, 109-93 against Memphis. Harrell and Nate Higgs each scored 23 against the Houn'Dawgs and Strickland added 20 and 12 rebounds. Tampa Bay lost 134-116 to the Dogs in Detroit Friday night.

The ThunderDawgs have home games Thursday, Saturday and Sunday before their next road trip.

Related sites

www.tampabaythunderdawgs.com

www.aba2000.com

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