Undermanned Flight Outmuscle Riverdragons, 87-86

March 19, 2005 - NBA G League (G League)
Columbus Riverdragons News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga.— No Damone Brown, no problem for the Huntsville Flight on Friday night at the Columbus Civic Center. Four players scored in double figures and the Flight outrebounded the Columbus Riverdragons 45-33 to claim an 87-86 win on NASCAR Night. With the loss, the Dragons lead over idle Roanoke for first place in the NBDL standings dropped to just a half-game.

Huntsville played the game without leading scorer Damone Brown, who did not travel with the team, but the nine remaining players for Ralph Lewis picked up the slack in helping the Flight (20-18) win their second in a row. Led by the scoring of Austin Nichols (20 points) and Cedric Henderson (17 points), the rebounding of Rodney Bias (17 boards), and the clutch play of Jason Miskiri, Huntsville earned its fifth win in seven head-to-head meetings with the Riverdragons (25-14) this season. The Flight have now won 13 of their last 16 contests versus Columbus.

Henderson, filling in for Brown at small forward, responded with a strong performance out of the gate. The NBA veteran's eight first quarter points on four of seven shooting propelled Huntsville to an 18-17 lead after a turnover plagued first period. Both teams committed seven turnovers in the opening quarter, but the Flight shot 9-18 from the floor and grabbed 10 rebounds compared to only four for the Dragons to grab the early lead. Ramel Curry kept Columbus close with a team-high seven points in the stanza.

After Columbus scored the first four points of the second quarter to grab a 21-18 advantage, Huntsville quickly grabbed the momentum back with 10-3 run capped by a Kyle Davis jumper that gave the Flight a 28-24 lead with 7:36 left in the period. A Randy Orr 18-footer with 4:58 remaining finished off an 8-2 Columbus spurt that pushed the Riverdragons back in front at 32-30 with 4:58 to go, but that's the last time Columbus would see the lead in the first half. Nichols and Bias would combine for 10 points and the Flight finished off the half by outscoring Columbus 15-10 to take a 45-42 advantage into the locker room.

Like the first quarter, both offenses struggled in the third as Huntsville outscored the Riverdragons 18-17 in the period. The Flight were able to maintain their halftime advantage due to their dominance on the boards. The Flight outrebounded the Dragons 16-6 in the quarter as Bias alone totaled 10 boards and Huntsville went to the fourth quarter up by four points, at 63-59.

Miskiri would prove to be the difference for the Flight in the fourth quarter. The veteran point guard connected for nine points in the stanza, including five free throws down the stretch to help Huntsville deny Columbus the comeback bid. Miskiri twice hit jumpers to up the lead to six, the second basket giving the Flight an 80-74 lead with 1:08 to go. After Columbus hit buckets to cut the lead to only three points in the final minute, Miskir knocked down a pair of free throws on two occasions, including two with nine seconds to play that gave Huntsville an 85-80 edge. After Reed Rawlings hit a three-pointer from the left wing to cut the Dragons deficit to two points, Antoine Pettway was fouled in the backcourt and promptly hit two free throws to clinch the game for the Flight. Adam Harrington's three-ball at the buzzer brought the Dragons within one for the final margin.

Along with Nichols' 20 points and Henderson's 17 points, Miskiri finished with 14 and six assists, while Bias notched his ninth double-double with 12 points and 17 rebounds in the victory. Davis added nine points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots off the bench for Huntsville.

Four Riverdragons scored in double figures. Orr finished with 20 points and seven rebounds for the second consecutive game, Harrington posted 17 points off the bench, Curry added 14, and Rawlings notched 13 points in the loss for Columbus.

The two teams return to action on Saturday night, March 19, as the Flight will host the Riverdragons in Huntsville at the Von Braun Center. Tip-off is 7:00 p.m. CST, 8:00 p.m. EST. For more information, log onto nbdl.com.



NBA G League Stories from March 19, 2005


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