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Altitude rally falls short

March 25, 2005 - NBA G League (G League)
Asheville Altitude News Release


ASHEVILLE, NC. - After being held scoreless for almost six minutes, Columbus Riverdragons forward Reed Rawlings gave Columbus the breathing room it needed late, hitting a tough runner to help knock off Asheville 93-86 at the Civic Center.

With the win, Columbus (26-15) extends its lead over the second place Roanoke Dazzle by a game and a half. Asheville (23-18) falls three full games behind the first place Riverdragons.

"Asheville always makes a comeback," said Columbus head coach Jeff Malone. "This was a big game for both teams, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top. This has been a good stretch for us, now, we need to go home and win a game (tonight)."

After falling behind by as many as 16 points midway through the fourth quarter, Asheville used intense defensive pressure and some timely shooting to crawl to within four points (90-86) with a little over a minute left to play.

But after Asheville's Joe Forte turned the ball over on an inbound pass with 57 seconds left to play, Rawlings put the game out of reach with his ninth field goal of the game.

Rawlings finished with a team-high 21 points on 9-of-21 from the field. Leroy Hurd added 16 points and eight rebounds.

Forte paced Asheville with 21 points, five assists and four rebounds. Ron Slay and Kirk Penney chipped in with 14 points each while Tim Bowers added six assists to go with his 12 points.

"We put ourselves in a position where we had to score on every position," said Altitude head coach Joey Meyer. "Our defense was not good early, and it was tough to climb out of that hole late."

After controlling most of the game, Columbus almost gave it away late with a dismal performance in the fourth quarter.

The Riverdragons committed eight of its 16 turnovers, seven of its 20 personal fouls and scored just 15 points in the final stanza.

Asheville had a hard time holding onto the ball as well finishing with 21 turnovers. Neither team shot particularly well from the free throw both finishing below 70 percent.

Columbus was 13-of-19 (68.4 percent) from the free throw line, while Asheville was 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) from the charity stripe.

"We can't wait until the fourth quarter to step up our defense and expect to beat teams," said Forte. "The way we played in the fourth, is the way we should have played the entire game."

Columbus returns to host the Florida Flame tonight, while the Altitude will host the Fayetteville Patriots. Both games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m.



NBA G League Stories from March 25, 2005


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