Sioux Falls Sweeps Canton in 117-85 Victory
Published on April 17, 2016 under NBA G League (G League)
Sioux Falls Skyforce News Release
Sioux Falls, SD - The Sioux Falls Skyforce (2-0) cruised past the Canton Charge (0-2) on their way to a 117-85 victory on Sunday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls. With the win, the Skyforce claim the Eastern Conference Championship along with advancing to the 2016 NBA Development League Finals to take on either the Austin Spurs or the Los Angeles D-Fenders.
Sioux Falls jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. The lopsided victory was fueled by a second quarter in which the Skyforce only allowed the Charge to score 12 points, ultimately heading into halftime with a 56-35 lead.
The Skyforce were led by Rodney McGruder (18 points, five rebounds), Jarnell Stokes (24 points, four rebounds), and Keith Benson (15 points, 10 rebounds) throughout the first half as the three players combined to score 35 points, matching Canton's team total in the first two periods of play.
The Skyforce defense, which finished the season as the number one ranked defense in the NBA D-League, made scoring hard to come by as Sioux Falls added 11 more points to their already sizable first-half margin to close out the game.
Though the Charge had six different players score in double figures, they shot just 38.1 percent from the floor and just 29.6 percent from three-point range. Canton also allowed 19 points off of 17 turnovers in the contest, making it hard to build any type of momentum down the stretch.
Quinn Cook led (14 points, 5 assists) all Canton scorers, while Sir'Dominic Pointer and Chris Crawford each contributed 13 points in the Canton loss. A normally hot-shooting Nick Minnerath was bottled up coming off the bench as he was held to just 11 points, making just four of his 12 shot attempts.
Jabril Trawick (15 points, five rebounds), DeAndre Liggins (13 points, seven rebounds), and Toure' Murry (10 points, five rebounds) also scored in double figures to round out the top offensive performances in the win for Sioux Falls. The Skyforce also outscored the Charge 60-38 in points scored in the paint on the night.
The 32-point win marked the second largest margin of victory in NBA D-League postseason history, second only to a 38-point victory by the Bakersfield Jam in 2015.
The Skyforce will again have home-court advantage heading into the NBA D-League Finals, traveling to either Los Angeles or Austin for the first game of the series before coming back to Sioux Falls for the final two. The official schedule for the final postseason series will be released in the coming days.
NBA G League Stories from April 17, 2016
- Sioux Falls Sweeps Canton in 117-85 Victory - Sioux Falls Skyforce
- Canton Eliminated in East Finals - Cleveland Charge
- Atlanta Hawks Assign Patterson to NBA Development League - Austin Spurs
- Charge Add Octeus - Cleveland Charge
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