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G League Austin Spurs

Toros fall to Patriots in inaugural home opener

November 26, 2005 - NBA G League (G League)
Austin Spurs News Release


AUSTIN, Texas - After almost letting a 13 point third quarter lead slip away to the Austin Toros, the Fayetteville Patriots rallied in the fourth quarter to knock off Austin 100-95 in the Toros inaugural home opener at the Austin Convention Center.

Former Kentucky forward Erik Daniels continued his early-season scoring onslaught leading the Patriots with a game-high 21 points to go with nine rebounds. Carlos Hurt and Mike King added 14 and 13 points respectively.

Ezra Williams led Austin with 19 points off the bench on 5-of-11 shooting from the field (3-of-6 from 3-point land). Derrick Zimmerman and Andre Emmett both chipped in with 16 points. Jamar Smith pulled down a team-high eight rebounds off the bench.

"This was a huge win for our team tonight," said Fayetteville head coach Mike Brown as the Patriots picked up their first road win of the season. "To come in against a very loud and hostile crowd and grab a win is always tough to do. But our guys executed down the stretch and made the key shots when they had too."

"Erik (Daniels) made a lot of big shots for them," said Williams, who also pulled in five rebounds. "And when he wasn't shooting the ball, he was setting the other guys up on the floor perfectly. We fought back, but just ran out of time."

After leading by seven points at the half, Fayetteville opened the third quarter on a 10-4 run to extend its lead to 13 points. Sparked by tenacious defense, the Toros went on an 11-2 run in the final 3:32 of the third quarter to close the gap to four points (71-67) heading into the fourth quarter.

"When guys are comfortable on the court, we shoot the ball well," said Austin head coach Dennis Johnson. "But when we're not comfortable, we have a tendency to second guess what we want to do on the court. But, with us getting Marcus (Fizer) in this week and kind of force-feeding him on the floor, we knew we would run into some problems. But with a few days off before our next game, we hope to be able to work those problems out."

After trailing for most of the game, Austin took a short-lived lead at 78-77 behind a put-back by Smith at 7:49 of the fourth quarter. Trading baskets the next six minutes of the fourth, Fayetteville found themselves leading by three points (90-87) with a little less than two minutes left to play. Hurt then put the dagger in the hearts of the Toro players and their fans with a long-range, 3-point basket with 1:41 left to play.

Austin would never get closer than five points as Fayetteville hit its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win.

"That's a huge reason for us losing tonight too," said Williams. "They made free throws and we didn't."

Austin shot just 19-of-31 (61.3 percent) from the free throw line while the Patriots nailed 27-of-34 (79.4 percent) of its free throws. Austin also committed nine of its 19 turnovers in the first quarter while Fayetteville finished with just 14 miscues.

Austin will next be in action Dec. 4 when they host the Albuquerque Thunderbirds. Fayetteville will travel to Tulsa to take on the 66ers Dec. 1.

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