Patriots foiled again at home
January 4, 2003 - NBA G League (G League)
Fayetteville Patriots News Release
It's becoming an epidemic. Fourth quarter leads at home and the Fayetteville Patriots are not making for a good combination. On Saturday, the Greenville Groove rallied from a nine-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Fayetteville 99-95 at the Crown Coliseum. The Groove's win forces a three-way tie atop the NBDL standings between Fayetteville, Greenville and Huntsville. The Patriots were just 14-for-23 from the line.
"It's the same thing that happened the last time we were in this building,'' said Patriots coach Jeff Capel. "We played well but we shot 60 percent from the line tonight. You can't do that against a good team."
The Patriots relinquished a 13-point lead with a little more than seven minutes the go in their last home game, which was against Asheville. The Patriots shot 5-for-10 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter of that game, as the Altitude's rally was a team effort.
Saturday's rally belonged almost exclusively to Billy Thomas. Thomas finished with a season-high 28 points on 11-for-18 shooting from the field. He was also 4-for-8 from 3-point range and added five assists, four rebounds and three steals.
"Billy's our leader, he's our captain on the court. He does everything,'' said Greenville coach Tree Rollins. "He gets steals for us, he rebounds for us and his shooting is just spectacular."
The Patriots came into Saturday's game having trailed just 3:14 in their last three games combined. It didn't appear things would be any different on Saturday. The Patriots jumped out to an early 11-point lead and led throughout most of the game.
Omar Cook's spectacular alley-oop pass to Matt Barnes gave the Patriots a nine-point lead, 83-74 with 8:16 remaining in the game. Quick shots when do in the Patriots, however. The Patriots began taking quick shots and the Groove began leaking out and getting transition baskets.
Greenville's Greg Jones would five of his 16 points during a 7-0 Groove run that pulled it within two. The Patriots pushed the lead back up to four, but a Kevin Lyde turnaround and a Thomas jump shot tied the game at 89. Soumaila Samake would give the Groove its first lead of the game, 91-90, with turnaround jumper over Jeff Aubry.
After Jason Capel gave the Patriots back the lead, Thomas' 3-pointer put the Groove up 94-92 and put the Patriots in an unusual position â behind for the remainder of the game as the Patriots never regained the lead.
"That's a championship team,'' Capel said. "Those are the defending champions. They're putting their team together to defend their championship. The good thing about tonight is that we're in first place. We've got to go down there and try to get this one back next week."
Matt Barnes led the Patriots with 18 points and Jameel Watkins had 13 points and six rebounds. The Patriots face the Groove again on Tuesday, this time at the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville. The Patriots are 2-0 in the Bi-Lo Center this season, while the Groove is 2-0 in the Crown Coliseum. The Patriots dropped to 12-8 overall and 4-6 at home. The Groove is 12-8 overall.
The Patriots will be trying to tie the league record for consecutive road victories on Tuesday with eight straight road victories.
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