Fayetteville surrenders late lead in 126-123 loss to Dazzle
Published on January 7, 2006 under NBA G League (G League)
Fayetteville Patriots News Release
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., January 6 - In a game marred by physical play and several technical fouls, the Fayetteville Patriots built a late 5-point lead only to watch Roanoke close with an 11-3 run for a 126-123 win in NBA D-League action at the Crown Coliseum Friday night. The loss drops the Patriots to 3-11, while the Dazzle improve to 7-9. The teams play again at the Crown Coliseum on Saturday night.
Roanoke opened strong, building an early 9-point advantage behind seven first-quarter points from Will Bynum and stretching it to 15 in the second period. But the Patriots settled down and put together a 14-1 spurt that left them trailing by only four at the break. The game stayed close the rest of the way and Fayetteville opened up a 116-111 lead with just under six minutes remaining. But the Dazzle took advantage of a couple of key turnovers by the Patriots, and hit a crucial string of free throws to pull ahead. Bynum nailed three in a row in the final seconds, the first of which came courtesy of Fayetteville's seventh technical foul.
In all, there were 10 technical fouls and two flagrant fouls, one that got Roanoke's Peter Ramos ejected in the third. Fayetteville's Butta Johnson was also ejected after drawing his second technical - the one that put Bynum on the line late in the game.
Anthony Grundy led all scorers with 32. Bynum added 23 and Isiah Victor had 19.
The Patriots were led by newcomer Melvin Sanders, who scored 20 in his first game after joining the team on Tuesday. Erik Daniels added 18.
The D-League offers players the opportunity to develop their talent in a highly competitive atmosphere under the NBA's umbrella. Thirty-four (34) players have been called up to the NBA on 50 separate occasions. Ten (10) former D-League coaches, five athletic trainers, 11 referees and 30 front office executives have also been called up since the start of the league's inaugural season in November of 2001.
Designed to help grow the sport of basketball both domestically and internationally, the league also offers fun, family entertainment at affordable prices. The D-League is a source of on-court talent for the NBA's 30 teams and is a diverse human resources pool for the NBA and its teams by training employees in management, operations, public relations, sales and marketing positions.
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- Fayetteville surrenders late lead in 126-123 loss to Dazzle - Fayetteville Patriots
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