Patriots hand Flight its first loss
December 6, 2003 - NBA G League (G League)
Fayetteville Patriots News Release
The Fayetteville Patriots put together their best performance of the young season for the best team in the NBDL. The Patriots placed six players in double figures, led by Bryan Lucas' 22 points and nine rebounds as Fayetteville defeated the Huntsville Flight, 106-101 at the Crown Coliseum on Saturday.
The win improves the Patriots to 4-2, while the Flight (4-1) lose its first game of the season. Ken Johnson led the Flight with 18 points and seven blocks.
"We haven't played this well together this season,'' Patriots coach Jeff Capel said. "If we had played the way we've been playing we would have lost by 30 or 40 points tonight. That's how good Huntsville is."
The Patriots have won three straight, but the first two games of their winning streak came after they had to rally from double-digit deficits. The Patriots other win of the season also was a come-from-behind adventure.
Saturday was different. The Patriots stayed competitive the whole night and even went into the fourth quarter with the lead. That's when Omar Cook took over in the paint. That's right in the paint. Cook had eight fourth-quarter points and made several crucial drives to the basket late in the game to seal the victory.
His most damaging drive came with 1:05 remaining in the game. Cook dashed by fellow St. John's Redstorm alum Erick Barkley and toss the ball up just high enough so Johnson could not block it. Instead, the ball fell softly in the basket and Johnson was called for a foul.
"When you talk about getting the ball in the paint, people think you're automatically talking about getting it in to your post players,'' Capel said. "That's not always the case. Sometimes a guard penetrating into the lane is just as effective. It's a high percentage shot.
"I thought Omar did a great job of getting in the lane. That might be the best I've seen him play in the three years he's been here."
Cook had 19 points and 11 assists and recorded the 14th double-double of his career and his second double-double in as many nights. Cook's missed the free throw, but his layup gave the Patriots a 100-95 lead. But on consecutive trips down the floor, Mike Fleming followed up a Huntsville miss and the Flight was able to cut Fayetteville's lead to one, 102-101 with 11.2 seconds to play.
With the shot clock off, however, Huntsville was forced to foul. Lucas, who had eight fourth-quarter points, hit two free throws to give Fayetteville a three-point advantage. Rick Apodaca then missed a 3-point attempt that would have tied the game, leading to two more Patriots free throws by Junie Sanders.
"I thought they were more aggressive tonight,'' Huntsville coach Ralph Lewis said. "They got to the basket at will tonight and got too many points in the paint. We settled for a lot of jump shots. Even though we're a good jump shooting team you don't want to totally on the jump shot."
The Patriots play again on Friday at the Crown Coliseum against Columbus. Game time is 7:30 p.m. The Flight host Asheville on Friday.
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