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G League Austin Spurs

Elder's big fourth quarter helps Toros beat Tulsa

January 20, 2007 - NBA G League (G League)
Austin Spurs News Release


AUSTIN, Texas - BJ Elder scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to help the Austin Toros hold off the Tulsa 66ers 88-81 on Saturday night at the Austin Convention Center. The Toros continued their strong play in January and improved to 6-3 for the month.

The 66ers fought back from a 21-point deficit and threatened to steal the game away from the Toros late in the fourth quarter until Elder and the Toros closed the door on Tulsa. Elder's three-point basket to beat the shot clock with 3:39 left in the game gave the Toros an 80-71 lead and the momentum to send the 66ers to their third straight loss.

"When you play the same team back-to-back, the second night is always the hardest," Austin Toros head coach Dennis Johnson said. "One of the biggest things I was impressed with tonight was how the team never cracked - even when Tulsa tied the game, we knew they still had to come and take the game from us."

Playing their second game of the weekend against the 66ers, Austin jumped out to an early 17-8 lead in the first quarter. James White, assigned to the Toros by the San Antonio Spurs, scored nine of his team-high 18 points in the quarter and was apart of a well-balanced offensive attack by the Toros, who shot over 50% in the period.

"The starting five played a lot of minutes and had good production tonight but the biggest thing was that we had 25 assists - we only had 19 last game," Johnson said. "Also, our rebounding has been a lot more consistent as of late which helps every aspect of our game."

Trailing by 13 points at the half, Tulsa came out of the locker room on a 28-15 run to tie the game at 58-58 on Will Conroy's fast-break lay-up. The Toros would run respond to the 66ers surge with a 21-11 run to open the fourth quarter to help end any hopes of a comeback for Tulsa.

Denham Brown finished with 21 points for Tulsa, who only shot 38% in the game. Other 66ers in double figures included Alan Anderson (18) and Desmon Farmer (14). For the Toros, Jamar Smith had 18 points and five rebounds. Troy Bell finished with 14 points and five assists.

The Toros improved to 7-16 on the season, while Tulsa dropped to 10-14.

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