Cleaves pilots the Flight to victory over Fayetteville
Published on January 24, 2004 under NBA G League (G League)
Fayetteville Patriots News Release
Mateen Cleaves felt like he and his Huntsville Flight teammates should have won a close game on Friday night. They didn't. So he put it on himself to make sure there would be no should haves on Saturday. Cleaves scored a season-high 29 points â 21 of them coming in the second half â to lead the Huntsville Flight to a 102-98 win.
It was the Flight's first win over the Patriots in four tries this season. Huntsville's win also marked the first time the Flight has defeated the Patriots at the Crown Coliseum since March 5, 2002.
"Cleaves wasn't going to let them lose tonight,'' Patriots coach Jeff Capel said. "He willed his team to the win. We couldn't guard him, so they just rode him all the way through."
With 1:03 to play in the game, Omar Cook found Darrell Johns in the lane for an easy hook shot that pulled the Patriots to within one, 97-96. But Cleaves would come down on the next possession and post up Cook in the paint, bodying his point-guard counterpart until he got close enough to the basket to hit a turnaround jump shot.
Cook cut the lead back to one with two free throws. Cleaves again answered by beating all five Patriots down the floor for uncontested layup that gave the Flight a 101-98 lead with 30.3 seconds remaining. The Flight (12-10) sealed the win after Jason Capel missed a jump shot with 15 seconds remaining.
"Give them credit, they did a good job on us defensively during that possession,'' Jeff Capel said. "We wanted a quick two out of that possession, if we would have gotten a three that would have been good too. But they switched back to zone and we didn't immediately recognize it and cost us. We didn't execute well."
The Patriots fall to 11-12 and have lost two straight during their five-game homestand. The Flight came in losers of three straight and dropped seven out of its last eight games overall. Friday night, Huntsville lost a double-overtime heartbreaker to the Lowgators, so Saturday's win gave the Flight some needed optimism.
"When you lose a game like we lost last night and then come down here and beat a team like Fayetteville, it can get you headed in the right direction,'' Cleaves said. "Fayetteville has had our number all year long, so this is a major win for us."
Cleaves wasn't without help on Saturday. Rodney Bias grabbed 13 rebounds, five on the offensive end, while Rod Grizzard finished with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting.
"We got some easier baskets in the second half,'' Huntsville coach Ralph Lewis said. "But what turned us around in the second half was our defense. They scored 60 points in the first half, which means they were on pace to score 120 points and we haven't faired well when the other team scores 100 points. They've got shooters on this team, so we knew we needed to do a better job of finding the Jason Capels, the Kent Williams and the Junie Sanders."
Bryan Lucas led the Patriots with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Cook added 16 points and nine assists. Fayetteville and Huntsville return to action on Saturday. The Patriots host the Roanoke Dazzle at 7:30 p.m., while the Flight go home to face Charleston.
NBA G League Stories from January 24, 2004
- Cleaves pilots the Flight to victory over Fayetteville - Fayetteville Patriots
- Columbus Tops Roanoke 103-84 - Roanoke Dazzle
- Columbus Riverdragons to Play Charleston on Post - Columbus Riverdragons
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