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Reed's Big Day Helps Armor Topple Mad Ants

March 17, 2013 - NBA G League (G League)
Springfield Armor News Release


Springfield, Mass. - The Springfield Armor, presented by MGM Springfield, outscored the Fort Wayne Mad Ants 53-34 in the second half en route to a 107-80 victory today at the MassMutual Center. The Armor finish with a 4-3 edge in the season series between the two teams.

Willie Reed got the scoring started for Springfield (16-25) today with a layup and the Armor held an 18-15 lead over the Mad Ants (21-21) at the 5:02 mark of the first quarter. From there, Kenny Adeleke finished a layup off a nifty dish from Kris Joseph and the Armor closed the quarter on an 11-2 run, punctuated by an Edwin Ubiles three-pointer, to take a 29-17 lead into the break.

In the second, the Armor extended their lead to as many as 16 points and led by double digits for nearly the first nine minutes of the period, but the Ants battled back. Fort Wayne's Anthony Richardson converted a tip-in to spark a 9-1 run to trim the deficit from 11 points (48-37) to three points (49-46) in just over a minute. After a Reed put-back layup for Springfield, the Mad Ants held the ball for what appeared to be the final possession of the half. Richardson pulled up and misfired on a jumper with two seconds to go in the half and Reed corralled the rebound for the Armor and fired an outlet pass to Justin Johnson. Johnson caught the ball near the Mad Ants' three-point line on the run, took two dribbles, and buried a buzzer-beating halfcourt shot to send the Armor into the half with a 54-46 advantage.

The Mad Ants kicked off the third quarter by quickly trimming the deficit to three points, but that's when the Armor took over. A Reed layup spurred a 16-2 run for Springfield in just under five minutes to open up a 70-53 lead with 5:06 to go in the third. Fort Wayne outscored Springfield 12-7 in the final five minutes of the quarter, but the Armor still held a 77-65 cushion heading into the fourth quarter.

The Armor stormed out of the gate in the fourth and didn't allow the Mad Ants to get any closer than 12 points. The Armor scored 30 points on 11-of-21 shooting (52.4%) in the final period while holding the Mad Ants to 15 points on 5-of-22 from the field (22.7%). The Armor bench scored 24 of the team's 30 points in the fourth, led by Paul Carter's 10 points, to take the 107-80 triumph.

Reed led the way for Springfield tonight, scoring a game-high 21 points and grabbing a season-high 20 rebounds in 36 minutes for his third straight double-double (and ninth of the season). Reed became the third player in franchise history to pull down 20 rebounds in a single game and he's now snared 52 rebounds in the Armor's last three games (17.3 rebounds per game). Carter (season-high 17 points in 20 minutes), Ubiles (15 points in 27 minutes) and Johnson (13 points in 20 minutes) all came off the bench to score in double figures and contribute to the Armor's 54-22 advantage in bench scoring.

Defensively, the Armor held the Mad Ants to an opponent-season-low 33.7% shooting (30-of-89), including just 12-of-47 (25.5%) in the second half.

Tony Mitchell scored a team-high 19 points in 32 minutes for the Mad Ants and Brandon Wallace recorded a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds in 36 minutes. Ron Howard rounded out the double figures scorers with 14 points in 30 minutes.

The Armor, winners of five of their last six in Springfield, will return to action on Tuesday night when they host the Erie BayHawks at 7:00 pm at the MassMutual Center.

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