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Flame Survive Patriots Second Half Rally To Earn 83-80 Win

December 16, 2005 - NBA G League (G League)
Florida Flame News Release


ESTERO, Fla. - Bracey Wright tallied a game-high 24 points while Hiram Fuller, Dwayne Jones, and Andre Barrett notched double-doubles to propel the Florida Flame to an 83-80 victory over the Fayetteville Patriots on Saturday night at Germain Arena.

The win was the fourth in the last five games for the Flame (5-2) who remain one game behind first place Arkansas (7-2) in the D-League standings. Fayetteville (2-7) suffered its fifth straight loss and dropped to 1-6 on the road.

Florida led 63-47 with 7:24 left in the third quarter after a Fuller lay-up, but the Patriots mounted a furious rally over the final seven minutes of the period. Led by five points from Mike King and four points from Kevin Johnson, Fayetteville went on a 16-1 run to cut the Flame lead to 64-63 at the end of the third quarter.

Carlos Hurt continued the Patriots run into the fourth quarter, hitting a three-pointer with 11:05 left to give the Patriots a 68-66 advantage. Hurt would later convert a steal into a lay-up that gave Fayetteville a 75-71 lead with 5:33 to go.

But Florida answered with 9-0 run as Wright connected on one of two free throws, Barrett hit a short jumper, Fuller connected on two free throws and Wright capitalized on a Barrett steal for a lay-in with 3:22 remaining that gave the Flame an 80-75 lead.

A Johnson lay-up brought the Patriots within one point, at 81-80 with 56.8 seconds to go, but that's as close as Fayetteville would get. Barrett and Wright connected on free throws to push the Florida advantage to 83-80 with 6.1 seconds on the clock. Erik Daniels' three-point attempt at the horn was off the mark and the Flame survived for their second home victory of the season.

For Florida, Fuller and Jones notched their fourth double-doubles of the season with 14 points and 17 rebounds and 15 points and 18 rebounds respectively. Barrett earned his second double-double with 12 points and 12 assists.

Fayetteville was led by three players in double figures. King posted a team-high 16 points, Johnson scored 15 points, and Hurt had 14 in the loss.

The Flame and Patriots rap up their weekend double-header tomorrow night at Germain Arena. Tip-off is 6:00 p.m. EST.

For additional information, please visit floridaflame.com or contact Florida Flame Director of Media Relations, Tim Becwar at (239) 561-8130 and tbecwar@nba.com. For additional information on the NBA Development League please visit NBADLEAGUE.com.

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