ALBANY -- The last of 15 home games came and went for the Albany Legends early Sunday evening at Washington Avenue Armory. The Legends sent the home faithful -- about 200 -- out into the spring night happy with a 128-115 win over the Kankakee County Soldiers.


This was the first year a pro basketball team named something other than the Patroons called the Armory home, and owner Steve Miller says the Legends will be back next spring. They might even be back for one more game this year if they're the highest-ranked team at the end of the league's playoffs next month in Portland, Ore.


The championship game of the 15-team International Basketball League will be played sometime in mid-July on the home court of the team with the better record. If that's not the Legends, Miller will go back to work, trying to make things better for next season.


"You know, we had a mountain to climb, in general, but, I think we kept our promise to the fans," Miller said. "We wanted to provide a fun night, high quality and affordable minor-league basketball. We have done that with our record and our ticket prices."


Fans who wanted to go see the Legends play this spring had to shell out only $7 for a ticket, and on Sundays, you could buy two hot dogs or a soda for the price of one.


After beating the Soldiers, a team from Chicago, on Sunday, the Legends had a 13-2 record -- all of the games at home -- and are sitting atop the Continental Division of the IBL. The final five regular-season games are on the road and then it's onto the playoffs.


The Legends did not list game attendance in their box scores but Miller said the team averaged about 400 (that's paid attendance, including about 200 season tickets per night).


In order for the Legends to stay afloat, Miller says, the team needs to average between 700 and 800 fans next year.


"Is 400 (fans) 700? No," said Miller, who has a day job at IBM. "Did we break even our first year? No. Did we expect to? No."


When the Patroons -- and the Continental Basketball Association -- were dying a few years ago, the organization lost well over $100,000. The Legends' financial losses are in the "tens of thousands," Miller said, because of the limited travel.


The team tried to bring in some local talent (Evan Lane of The College of Saint Rose is on the roster) and the coach, Derrick Rowland, is as familiar as any basketball name in the area. They had a player with NBA ties in Kenny Satterfield but Rowland said he had to release him for undisclosed reasons before Sunday's game.


Fans of the Patroons will remember Gordon Klaiber, who was here under Micheal Ray Richardson and is the only former Patroon to be a Legend.


"The people are missing out. This league is a lot faster and a lot more up and down," Klaiber said before Sunday's game. "It would be real nice to have more fans, but we just go out and play."


Miller said he hopes to have more corporate sponsors aboard -- right now there are between 20 and 30 -- next year. He promises he will work hard in the off-season.


"I would call this season a success," Miller said. "We learned a lot during the year and we will be back next season. We did things that people thought we were crazy for trying. We want to come back stronger than ever."


Tim Wilkin can be reached at 454-5415 or by e-mail at twilkin@timesunion.com.


PULLOUT:


Legends 128


Soldiers 115