G League Capital City Go-Go

Capital City's Furious Rally Falls Short in Loss to Fort Wayne

Published on January 3, 2020 under NBA G League (G League)
Capital City Go-Go News Release


WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Capital City Go-Go (9-10), the NBA G League affiliate of the Washington Wizards, were defeated by the Fort Wayne Mad Ants (9-11), 128-126, on Friday night in the Nation's Capital.

The Go-Go raced out to a quick lead in the contest, peaking at a 37-18 advantage with 1:56 remaining in the first quarter. Capital City maintained its lead through each of the first three quarters, as the Go-Go's starting five did the majority of the damage with 113 of the team's 126 points. The Go-Go led by double-digits for over half of the game (24:29 total) and carried a 97-86 lead into the fourth quarter.

Fort Wayne responded with a quick 8-0 run to begin the final frame, pulling the game within three less than two minutes into the period. The Go-Go quickly answered with an 8-2 run of their own, giving them a 105-97 lead with 7:22 to play. Fort Wayne took control of the game from that point, embarking on a 23-7 run over the next six minutes to take its largest lead of the night of eight with a little over a minute to go. Despite trailing 123-115 with 33.7 seconds left, the Go-Go were able to force a turnover and benefitted from a couple missed free throws to trail by just two with a Jerian Grant free throw attempt looming. After an intentional miss, Fort Wayne was able to secure the defensive rebound and run out the remainder of the clock.

Four Go-Go starters scored 20-plus points in the game, led by Mike Cobbins' game-high 29 points and nine rebounds - nearly matching his 30-point performance in the Go-Go's last outing. Jalen Jones had 25 points, his third 25-plus point game of the season, to go along with seven rebounds. In his first start of the season, Phil Booth tallied a season-high 22 points, going 5-7 from the behind the arc. Jerian Grant added 21 points on 9-14 shooting from the field. Wizards' assignee Justin Robinson neared a triple-double with 16 points, seven rebounds and a game-high nine assists. Capital City shot .553 (52-94) from the field, its highest field goal percentage of the season, leading to a season-high 126 points.

Fort Wayne was led by Walt Lemon Jr.'s 28 points and seven assists, his 11th 20-point game of the season. JaKeenan Gant added a season-high 27 points, while Ben Moore and C.J. Wilcox each chipped in 15 for the Mad Ants' starters, with Moore adding 12 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Stephan Hicks (12) and Travin Thibodeaux (10) each chipped in double-digit scoring efforts off Fort Wayne's bench.

The Go-Go will return to action this Sunday afternoon as they host the Oklahoma City Blue at 3:00 p.m. Fort Wayne will head to Canton on a back-to-back, squaring off with the Charge tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.

GO-GO HEAD COACH RYAN RICHMAN

On tonight's game:

"It's alright. Good learning experience. Obviously, not the outcome you want. Typical game when you have a big lead -- and playing with a big lead is obviously something we don't do a ton of. [It's] something we need to learn from and move on for our next game on Sunday."

On if the foul under the basket in the last minute of the game could've been reviewed:

"Yeah, probably. I mean, it's hard using a challenge if you're not totally sure about it. And then we ended up winning a challenge. But, yeah, I mean that's part of the game. Referees do the best job they can and we move on."

On closing out the game:

"We gave ourselves a chance to win. Down five with 50 seconds left, something we work on all the time, so we always have a chance no matter what happens. We obviously stressed it to our team and they responded and give us a chance win at the end."

GO-GO CENTER MIKE COBBINS

On losing the lead:

"I felt like we made enough little mistakes that caught up with us. They capitalized on mistakes, and we just have to learn how finish the game and learn from our mistakes on film. We'll be better for next time."

On the plays designed for him to score:

"Some of them were drawn up in practice. We kind of throw them in some of the game like situations that we draw up, but some of them are off the top of the head."

On the difference between the first and second half:

"Our aggressiveness. I felt like when we came out we were the aggressor. Then once they started trying to make their comeback, they took their aggressiveness and put the foot on the gas on us a little bit."

Check out the Capital City Go-Go Statistics

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