sold the team. The Zeniths basketball team began play in January 1978 along with the rest of the All-American Alliance, but the league folded within a month. The Zeniths played 11 games and finished with a 10-1 record. Attendance at home games at the War Memorial was by far the best in the league. For the 1978–79 basketball season, the Zeniths joined the newly renamed Continental Basketball Association (formerly the Eastern Basketball League) and played most of their home games at the Dome Arena at the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Henrietta, New York. The Dome Arena was built primarily as an exposition hall for the annual county fair, as well as business shows and conventions. It was not particularly well suited for basketball; for one thing, it did not have a hardwood floor. Instead, the Dome bought a green basketball carpet from a Swedish firm and used that for Zeniths games. While not popular with players or fans, the carpet met with the league's approval, despite the odd muffled sound made every time a player dribbled the ball. (The War Memorial had a standard hardwood basketball floor.) The Zeniths were coached by local product Mauro Panaggio, a successful Division III basketball coach at SUNY Brockport, and featured many former prominent Western New York college basketball players, most notably guard Glenn Hagan from St. Bonaventure and forward Larry Fogle from Canisius College (both had been second-round NBA Draft picks). The team played a very fast, uptempo style that was the prevailing trend in the CBA at the time. They were the dominant team in the league that year, finishing 36-12 and winning the Northern Division title by nine and a half games over the Anchorage Northern Knights. In the playoffs, they lost only once, beating the Allentown Jets three games to one and then sweeping the Knights in the finals. Star guard Andre McCarter was named both Newcomer of the Year and Most Valuable Player for the season. Panaggio was named league Coach of the Year. Also of note was the Zeniths' hosting of the 1979 CBA All-Star game at the Dome Arena, as Rochester took on a team of all-stars from the rest of the league. When a blizzard knocked out electric power in the city and the arena just after the first half ended, an impromptu slam dunk competition (won by Billy Ray Bates of the Maine Lumberjacks) was