Richards, a Griffin native, led his team to an upset victory last season over the No. 1 team in the ABA, the Jacksonville Giants. The Giants went on to become the 2011-12 ABA champions.
This was not an easy game for the Aliens. Richards gave his team off to spend time with their families during Thanksgiving and the team didn’t have much practice time. Also, Aliens leading scorer Michael Sloan had flu-like symptoms and Marquis Gilstrap was nursing a sore knee.
The Aliens (2-0) started the game very sluggish and they gave up several unforced turnovers. They did not play with the same intensity as they did in their first game but managed to take a 43-27 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Unfortunately, things got worse in the second quarter for the Aliens as the Bombers picked up momentum and tied the score 58-58 midway into the quarter. Richards then went to his bench (known as the “Goons”) to settle things down and they did that by taking a 73-63 lead into halftime.
The Aliens started the second half with a bit too much aggression, putting the Bombers in the bonus early in the third quarter and that allowed them to take a 102-98 lead heading into the fourth. But Aliens player Rashad Faust was too much for the Bombers to handle as he scored 20 fourth-quarter points to seal the win. The Aliens won despite committing 32 turnovers and missing a bunch of free throws.
“We were not consistent with our defensive pressure and the Bombers played much harder than we did,” said Richards. “We played a very bad game overall and we were fortunate to leave Alabama with the victory.”
Faust lead all scorers with 27 points and 8 rebounds, Sloan and Alonso Davis scored 15 each, Jay Brown had 13, Sidney Harris had 12, Gilstrap had 11 and Joshua Jones, Samuel Goodman and David Lawrence each chipped in 10. Jones led the Aliens with 11 rebounds.
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