Sports stats



Flame Sweep Patriots

December 19, 2005 - NBA G League (G League)
Florida Flame News Release


ESTERO, Fla., Dec. 17 -- Playing the majority of the night without D-League leading scorer Bracey Wright, the Florida Flame gutted out a come-from-behind 95-92 victory over the Fayetteville Patriots.

The Flame earned their third straight victory and fifth in their last six overall. With the loss, Fayetteville (2-8) suffered its sixth straight defeat and seventh in eight games on the road.

Both teams were missing key contributors, as the Flame lost Wright to back spasms and Josh Gross to a separated shoulder in the first half, while the Patriots were without Erik Daniels, who was injured in Friday night's contest.

Leading by eight points at halftime, 46-38, Fayetteville extended its advantage to 13 points in the third quarter. The Flame responded with a 26-12 run over the final 10 minutes of the period to take a 66-65 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Ricky Shields, Andre Barrett and Kendall Dartez combined for 14 points in the spurt as Florida capitalized on the Patriots' poor shooting and six turnovers to surge ahead. Shields would connect for 9 points in the stanza and the Flame hit 10-of-18 shots from the floor.

In a fourth quarter which saw 10 lead changes and 10 ties, the Flame made the key plays down the stretch to earn the win. Duane Erwin, Roderick Riley, and Kaniel Dickens all fouled out in the period, opening the door for Florida.

Following two free throws from Norm Richardson with 1:52 left that gave Fayetteville an 88-86 advantage, the Flame scored six straight points to retake the lead.

The Patriots were not done however, as layups from Mark Karcher and Mike King tied the score at 92 apiece with 6.8 seconds to go. But Carlos Hurt fouled Barrett going for a loose ball on the ensuing inbounds play with 2.9 seconds left and Barrett hit one of two free throws to put Florida back in front for good.

Kevin Johnson's inbounds pass to Karcher was stolen by E.J. Rowland, who was fouled with 0.4 seconds left. A Hurt technical foul gave Rowland three shots at the foul stripe and the rookie point guard hit two of three free throws for the final margin.

The Flame had six players score in double figures. Shields notched a team-high 13 points, Barrett finished with 12 points, Rowland and Nichols each contributed 11 points, while Smith and George Leach posted 10 points apiece in the victory.

Karcher hit for a game-high 19 points, while Johnson, Riley, and Dickens all contributed 14 points for Fayetteville.

• Discuss this story on the NBA G League message board...

NBA G League Stories from December 19, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central