Reed's Last-Second Jumper Lifts Armor over Canton Charge
March 27, 2013 - NBA G League (G League)
Springfield Armor News Release
Springfield, Mass. - The Springfield Armor, presented by MGM Springfield, defeated the Canton Charge 110-108 tonight after Willie Reed buried a high-arching 15-foot jumper from the baseline with 0.6 seconds left on the clock to secure the victory at the MassMutual Center. The Armor became the first team in the NBA D-League to conclude their home schedule this season.
Both teams got off to hot starts tonight and the Charge (27-19) held a slim 28-27 advantage over the Armor (18-27) after one quarter. Dominique Jones scored eight first-quarter points to pace the Armor, while Canton's Travis Franklin tallied 10 points to lead the Charge. Springfield buried 11-of-21 shots (52.4 percent) in the first, while Canton knocked down 13-of-25 (52.0 percent) from the field.
Neither team was able to seize momentum in the second quarter. The quarter featured eight lead changes and six ties and the largest lead of the period was a six-point Armor advantage (47-41) with 4:33 to go in the first half. The two teams battled to a 30-30 second-quarter stalemate and the Charge took a 58-57 lead into intermission. Jones scored nine more points in the second to raise his first half total to 17 points, while Ryan Rossiter (nine points), Arinze Onuaku (eight points) and Antoine Agudio (seven assists) posted strong numbers in the second for Canton.
In the third quarter, the game was tied 72-72 until Canton went on a 12-6 run to earn a game-high six-point lead, 84-78, with one minute to go. With the Charge threatening to take command of the game, Kris Joseph responded with a driving layup to trim the deficit to four points. On the final possession of the quarter, Justin Johnson banked in a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Canton lead to one, 84-83, heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter featured seven more lead changes and five ties, but a D'Aundray Brown three-pointer gave the Charge a 108-103 lead with 3:05 to go in regulation. A Carleton Scott layup got the Armor within three points and a Dominique Jones drive-and-dish set up a game-tying three-pointer from Dennis Horner at the top of the key with 1:36 to go. After both teams failed multiple times to break the 108-108 tie, Joseph corralled a Brown missed floater with 2.9 seconds left, prompting the Armor to use a timeout to set up the final play. Coming out of the timeout, Ben Uzoh inbounded the ball just in front of midcourt and hit Reed on the far baseline in front of Canton's bench. Reed caught the ball and buried the game-winner to give the Armor a 110-108 victory.
Jones led all scorers tonight with 24 points (17 in the first half) to go along with a team-high six assists in 33 minutes. Joseph added 16 points in 32 minutes, Reed chipped in 13 points in 33 minutes and Horner tallied 11 points in 27 minutes. The Armor also got a big lift from their bench tonight, with Justin Johnson contributing 13 points in 19 minutes, Scott chipping in 10 points in 21 minutes and Moore adding 10 points in 15 minutes. The Armor had a season-high seven players score in double figures tonight and the bench combined to score 44 points on 18-of-27 (66.7 percent) from the field.
The Armor shot better than 50 percent from the field in all four quarters tonight and finished 46-of-88 (52.3 percent), including 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from behind the arc, on the evening.
The Charge also had seven players score in double figures tonight, led by Rossiter's 22 points in 19 minutes off the bench. Brown added 17 points in 26 minutes, Franklin tallied 16 points in 23 minutes, Onuaku posted a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in 26 minutes, Agudio contributed 12 points and 11 assists in 38 minutes, Jorge Gutierrez scored 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists in 39 minutes and Micheal Eric finished with 10 points in 21 minutes.
The Armor will finish the 2012-13 regular season with five games on the road, beginning with a matchup on Friday night with the Erie BayHawks at 7:00 pm ET at Erie Insurance Arena.
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