G League Maine Celtics

High-Powered Offense Carries Maine Celtics

Published on March 20, 2022 under NBA G League (G League)
Maine Celtics News Release


WILMINGTON, DE - The Maine Celtics, presented by Unum, scored a season-high 143 points as an efficient offensive attack helped them avoid a comeback attempt in a 145-141 win over the Delaware Blue Coats.

Matt Ryan led Maine (13-14) with 34 points and three rebounds, shooting 10-13 from the field and 7-10 from long-range. Chris Clemons finished with 29 points, three rebounds and seven assists, making six threes. Brodric Thomas put up 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Juwan Morgan nearly posted a triple-double with 20 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, one steal and one block. Denzel Valentine turned in 15 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and Deonte Burton had 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Myles Powell's 33 points, three rebounds and seven assists paced Delaware (18-8). Shaquille Harrison recorded 24 points, three assists, a steal and two blocks. Charles Bassey tallied 22 points, 12 rebounds, two steals and a block while Braxton Key totaled 14 points and four rebounds. Shamorie Ponds had nine points and four assists.

Harrison hit from distance for the game's first points, with Ryan responding for Maine on the ensuing possession. Ryan would hit another triple on his way to scoring eight of the Celtics' first 11 points, helping them to an early 11-9 lead. Valentine checked in and promptly hit Thomas on a cross-court pass for a right-wing three. Maine led 22-19 after a Powell and-one a few ticks past the halfway point, starting the game 6-8 from deep as a team. They'd pull ahead by six before Key's dunk and Ponds canned a three to make it a one point lead, 27-26. The teams traded leads late in the first quarter and went into the second knotted up at 34.

Delaware opened on a 7-2 run to take a five-point lead early in the second. The Celtics were moving the ball well but also ended up with some turnovers, handing it over nine times by the nine-minute mark. Clemons hit a pair of threes and took a charge to spark a Maine run that was finished off by a pair of strong finishes at the rim from Burton to give them a 51-50 lead. Powell drew a 1-for-2 free throw to hand the lead back to the Blue Coats. The lead changed frequently throughout the rest of the quarter as the contrasting styles of Delaware's interior force and Maine's floor-spacing battled back-and-forth. The Blue Coats would get ahead by as much as four, but Morgan found success posting up smaller defenders to keep the Celtics around, racking up 16 first half points along with Clemons. Valentine's baby hook fell just before the buzzer to cut the halftime deficit to one, 71-70. Maine shot 24-42 (57.1 percent) from the floor, 11-20 (55 percent) from distance and 7-8 (87.5 percent) from the line in the first half while Delaware shot 25-47 (53.2 percent) from the floor, 4-13 (30.8 percent) from distance and 9-11 (81.8 percent) from the line.

Burton rattled home a three and Powell answered right away as the third quarter began. The lead continued to change back-and-forth, with John Bohannon finding Clemons on a backdoor cut followed by a step-back triple from Powell to put the Blue Coats ahead 81-79 in the opening minutes of the half. Ryan splashed home his fifth three in as many attempts to give Maine the lead, but Powell tied it back up at 94 with a layup. Thomas lobbed it up to Ryan to give him 24 points on 8-8 shooting and Valentine's cut for an easy basket a few trips later broke the tie. The Celtics closed the quarter on a 19-10 run to take a 113-105 lead into the final quarter.

Isaiah Cousins finished at the rim and hit from deep to keep Maine's offense humming into the fourth. Jared Brownridge and Ponds nailed consecutive threes to cut the deficit to 10, 120-110, prompting a Celtics timeout. Clemons' relentless attacking in the lane kept Maine's lead around double-digits as today's theme of back-and-forth scoring kept on. Thomas' and-one just prior to the halfway point of the quarter extended the lead to 14. Powell got up to 31 points as Delaware cut the deficit back to 10, 130-120 before Clemons answered from beyond the arc. Harrison's three and Bassey's 1-for-2 free throw brought the Blue Coats back within eight. Ryan hit a transition three to get Maine's lead back over double-digits before a full-court press from Delaware forced the Celtics into miscommunication and turnovers. Patrick McCaw made one free throw himself to make it a one-possession game and after Thomas buried a mid-range jumper, he fouled Powell on a three-point attempt, sending Powell to the line to cut it to 141-138. Ryan stepped into a pull-up jumper to give Maine a lead with 9.3 seconds left and he iced the game by hitting a pair from the line with 4.5 seconds remaining to give the Celtics the win. Maine finished 50-86 (58.1 percent) from the floor, 20-40 (50 percent) from downtown and 17-21 (81 percent) from the stripe. Delaware finished 49-89 (55.1 percent) from the floor, 13-32 (40.6 percent) from downtown and 17-23 (73.9 percent) from the stripe.

The Maine Celtics will finish a two-game road trip against the College Park Skyhawks on March 22. The Fort Wayne Mad Ants visit the Expo on March 27 before the Celtics round out the regular season on a three-game road swing.

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