Flight Falls To Asheville 78-71 Saturday night
December 21, 2002 - NBA G League (G League)
Huntsville Flight News Release
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (Dec. 21) â Paul Grant led five Asheville players in double figures as the Altitude defeated the Huntsville Flight 78-71 in NBDL action here Saturday night in at the Von Braun Center.
The Altitude (7-9) upended Huntsville for the first time in four tries this season and snapped a four-game overall losing skid, while the Flight (9-7) lost for the second time in as many nights.
"It feels good to end that losing streak," Altitude guard Luke Recker said. " It was a big win over a good team. We played good defense tonight, executed on offense, rebounded well and just played a better game all around than we have been."
Larry Abney added 14 points for the Altitude, while Eddie Gill and Luke Recker each contributed 12 and Jeff Trepagnier tallied 10. Brandon Williams scored a game-high 20 points for the Flight and was followed in the scoring column by Bakari Hendrix with 17 points, and Lonnie Harrell and Mike Wilks with 15 apiece.
"Let me first just say how good it feels to get a win," Altitude head coach Joey Meyer said. "We had guys step up tonight. (Ron) Rollerson's size played a huge part. He was a monster for us tonight and Luke (Recker) came off the bench and gave us a boost.."
The Flight, which trailed for much of the game except for a span in the third quarter, trailed by just one with 1:04 to play after a Bakari Hendrix layup. Then the Altitude scored the final points of the contest, including a bucket by Grant, and two free throws each by Gill and Trepanier to life Asheville for the win.
Asheville started the game by jumping out to an early 12-4 advantage and led 20-13 after a period. The Altitude built their lead to as many as 14 points in the opening half, before the Flight cut the gap to just four, at 38-34 at intermission.
The Flight rallied in the third quarter and outscored the Altitude 17-6 over the first six minutes to take a 51-44 advantage, but Asheville countered with eight straight points and culminated the period with a 16-5 run to lead 60-56 after three quarters.
"I told our guys to keep their heads up," Flight coach Ralph Lewis said. "We didn't take care of the ball tonight and it ended up costing us with too many turnovers. Each player needs to make one less mistake and we'll be a better basketball team."
The Altitude returns to action with a Dec. 27 game at Fayetteville (7:30 p.m. ET). The Flight returns to action Monday with a 1 p.m. CT game at Columbus.
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