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RimRockers defeat Patriots

January 19, 2006 - NBA G League (G League)
Arkansas RimRockers News Release


Little Rock, Arkansas January 19 - In their first game without NBA star Pape Sow, the RimRockers defeated the Fayetteville Patriots 119-109. James Lang stepped up to fill the void, earning his first start of the season In addition to his first double-double, contributing 30 points and 14 rebounds.

The game started off at a quick pace, with both teams scoring 33 in the first quarter. The RimRockers out-shot the Patriots 66.7 percent to 46.2 percent, however Fayetteville made up for their lack of accuracy by converting on second chance points. They scored 10 put-back points to the RimRockers 5. Donta Smith came off the bench in a big way for Arkansas, immediately scoring 10 points and going 2-2 from the three-point arc. The RimRockers ended the half leading the Patriots 67-58.

"Tonight was a big win for us. We played our style of basketball and it paid off," Head Coach Joe Harge said. "Our guys played start to finish and we got after it defensively. I'm extremely proud of the way they played tonight."

The RimRockers dominated the second half of the game, leading the Patriots by at least 10 points at all times. The Patriots continued to fire off shots and converted on 11 of 22 in the fourth quarter. Melvin Sanders led the team with a 8 point effort while four other Patriots scored in double digits, including 17 by Erik Daniels, 13 by Kevin Johnson, 12 by Cliff Hawkins and 11 by Norm Richardson. The Patriots got into foul trouble and allowed the RimRockers to score 33 points off of 29 Patriots' fouls. Scoring in double figures for the RimRockers were Kareem Reid (17), Clay Tucker and Brian Jackson (15) and Donta Smith (13).

The RimRockers reached the century point early in the fourth quarter and denied the Patriots the chance to close the gap. Arkansas pulled away by 16 points before Fayetteville had an opportunity catch up and it wasn't until Melvin Sanders sunk 2 free-throws late in the quarter to pull within 10 points. The RimRockers held on to the ball and let the seconds tick away before the final buzzer. Arkansas exceeded their scoring average of 105.1 points and snapped their three-game losing streak while boosting their record to 11-9.

The RimRockers take on the Fort Worth Flyers in the first of a two game home series tomorrow night at 7:30 Central time.

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