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G League Austin Spurs

Toros ease past Dazzle for Valentine's Day victory

February 14, 2006 - NBA G League (G League)
Austin Spurs News Release


Austin, TEXAS, February 14, 2006 - In the highest scoring game the Austin Convention Center has seen this year, ironically it was a pair defensive plays that sealed the 121-117 win for the Toros against the Roanoke Dazzle (13-16).

"Through all the practicing and yelling, you know something that you say will eventually sink in," said Toros head coach Dennis Johnson. "We've been preaching playing good solid defense all year long and now the guys are finally starting to play that way 100 percent. And tonight was a good example of what can happen when you put pressure on a team on the defensive end of the floor."

With Austin (17-12) trailing by one point (115-114) with a little more than a minute left to play, Johnson substituted Julius Hodge in for Marcus Fizer to defend Roanoke's Isiah Victor. The substitution immediately paid dividends as Hodge blocked Victor's shot to keep the Toro deficit at one point.

"That was just one of those hunches I had," Johnson said. "It worked this time, but probably won't work the next time. But that's the nature of the game."

On the next trip down the floor, Austin's Ezra Williams gave the Toros a 117-115 lead with a 3-point basket with 17 seconds left to play. After a timeout by the Dazzle and a chance to tie the game, Toro guard Derrick Zimmerman forced Roanoke guard Anthony Grundy to travel, giving Austin the ball back in the last 15 seconds.

Austin went 4-of-4 from the free throw line the remaining 15 seconds of the game to close out the Dazzle.

Williams led the Toros with 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting including 3-of-5 from 3-point land. Ramel Curry added 19 points while Hodge chipped in with 17 points off the bench.

Grundy led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-22 shooting. Victor chipped in with 21 points while Peter Ramos added 19 points to go with his nine rebounds.

In a high scoring game that got sloppy at times, Austin (22) and Roanoke (16) combined for 38 turnovers.

"The game plan was for us to come out and put pressure on them the entire time," said Austin guard Derrick Zimmerman, who dished out a game-high ten assists. "And not just tonight, but lately we have been doing a lot of things differently down the stretch. We're rebounding, playing defense and really just getting at teams and making it tough for them to score down the stretch."

Austin got off to a hot start jumping out to a 10-0 lead. After a timeout by Davison, the Dazzle got back on track scoring the ten of the next 14 points to pull to within four points at 14-10. Grundy continued to lead the Roanoke charge in the first quarter finishing with eight points in the quarter.

The second quarter was filled with turnovers as the two teams combined for 11. Neither team could make the best of the sloppy second quarter as the Dazzle took a slim two-point lead (53-51) into the locker room.

Austin overcame its 22 turnovers by shooting 57.3 percent (43-of-75) from the field.

The Dazzle will travel to Oklahoma to face the Tulsa 66ers tomorrow night at the Expo Square Pavilion. The Toros are also set to battle the 66ers at the Pavilion in their next outing, Saturday, February 18.

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