Jam Comeback Falls Short In Loss To Red Claws
January 24, 2010 - NBA G League (G League)
Bakersfield Jam News Release
(Bakersfield, Calif. - January 24, 2010) - The Bakersfield Jam battled hard to overcome a 17-point fourth quarter deficit but saw the night end in heartbreak as Alexis Ajinca tipped in a Will Blalock miss just ahead of the final horn to give the Maine Red Claws a 106-104 victory.
Bakersfield Head Coach Will Voigt was whistled for his second technical foul with 9:36 remaining in the game, and the resulting free throw from Chris Lowe gave Maine their largest lead at 17. With Voigt in the locker room it was Assistant Coach Greg Minor who led the Jam on a ferocious comeback, featuring two big three-pointers from Brian Butch (16 pts, 6 ast, 3 reb) and an array of impressive drives from Jeremy Wise (17 pts, 8 ast, 5 reb) and Reece Gaines (15 pts, 4 ast, 3 reb).
In the end, however, Ajinca was simply too much for the Jam. He led all scorers with 27 points on remarkable 12-for-14 shooting and grabbed his tenth rebound as he gave Maine the victory on the game's final play. Blalock, whose 8-footer bounced off the rim with less than a second remaining, fell just two rebounds short of a triple-double with 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
Former Jam sharpshooter Tony Bobbitt led four other Red Claws in double-figures, using 4-for-9 three-point shooting to rack up 15 points in the win. Noel Felix, Darnell Lazare and Terrell Harris added 14 points apiece for Maine, who managed to hold onto the win despite Celtics assignee J.R. Giddens missing the entire second half.
Will Daniels played an inspired game off of the Bakersfield bench, using aggressive play to contribute 17 points on 7-for-9 shooting and seven rebounds in just over 20 minutes. John Williams also played well in a reserve role, adding 13 points that included three long-distance buckets.
Maine will head immediately to Utah, where they face the Flash on Monday night. The Jam will have most of the week off before traveling to Idaho for a Friday-Saturday doubleheader with the Stampede, with Saturday night's game being televised on Versus at 8pm PT.
A complete box score for this game can be found at http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId2020900168.
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