Hot Shooting Lifts Red Claws Past BayHawks
December 5, 2015 - NBA G League (G League)
Maine Celtics News Release
Portland, ME - The Maine Red Claws, presented by Unum, won the tip-off and never looked back on Saturday night at the Portland Expo as they led wire-to-wire and clipped the Erie BayHawks, 111-92. Levi Randolph led Maine with a career-high 24 points, while Keith Appling paced the Bayhawks with 24 of his own to go with five rebounds and four assists.
Maine (4-4) opened with an Andre Stringer three pointer, followed by a steal and a layup from Stringer to open an early 5-2 lead. The BayHawks (2-4) traded baskets with the Red Claws until the 9:01 mark before Malcolm Miller and Jordan Mickey, on assignment from the Boston Celtics, sparked an 18-0 run with back to back dunks. Omari Johnson added eight during the run, which was broken up by Derrick Caracter's turnaround jump shot. Devyn Marble, on assignment from the Orlando Magic, scored on back to back possessions and Jordan Sibert knocked down a three and a long jump shot to chip the lead to 15. Marble buried a three with just over a minute left, but Levi Randolph scored to give the Red Claws a 38-20 lead after one quarter.
The second quarter was more evenly contested between the teams, as Sibert and Keith Appling caught the hot hand early for the BayHawks, cutting the Red Claws lead to 15 at one point. Stringer and Johnson proved to be the stoppers in the quarter for Maine as they paced a 10-2 run. Erie answered back with a 7-2 run of their own, and Melvin Ejim connected on a 23 footer to end the half with Maine on top, 64-43.
Marble and Appling came out firing in the third for the BayHawks, quickly cutting the lead back down to 15 in the first 2:19 of the half. Mickey scored four points to try to break up the visitors' momentum, but Appling, Marble and Sibert were unrelenting as they continued to pour in the points. With just under 90 seconds, Caracter scored in the paint to cut the lead to 10, but that was as close as Erie would get as Randolph scored on a layup and Corey Walden buried a deep three to claim an 84-71 lead heading into the final frame.
Randolph, Mickey and Coty Clarke ran the Maine lead back up to 19 to begin the fourth, but Erie reeled off and 11-3 run of their own, paced by Ejim and Appling, but after trading baskets for the next couple of possessions, the Red Claws closed out the win with an 11-4 run.
The BayHawks were paced by Appling (24 points, five rebounds, four assists). They also got strong contributions from Sibert (19 points, five rebounds), Marble (15 points, six rebounds, four steals) and Ejim (nine points, eight rebounds). Nnanna Egwu had a strong defensive effort, adding five rebounds and four blocks to his eight point total.
The Red Claws were led by Randolph (24), with solid efforts from Johnson (23 points, five rebounds), Mickey (18 points, 11 rebounds, six blocked shots), Walden (13 points, eight assists), Miller (10 points, seven rebounds, three blocks), Clarke (10 points, six rebounds, four assists) and Stringer (10 points, three assists, two steals).
The Red Claws and BayHawks will play each other again Sunday afternoon at the Portland Expo. Tip-off is at 5:00 PM.
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