Williams Second Half Surge Leads Vipers Past Flash
April 2, 2009 - NBA G League (G League)
Rio Grande Valley Vipers News Release
Jawad Williams scored 24 of his game high 35 points in the second half as the Rio Grande Valley Vipers rallied from 12 points down at halftime to knock off the Western Division leading Utah Flash 115-110- Wednesday night at the McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah. The win is the Vipers fifth in their last six contests and their third straight victory on the road. The loss snaps a five game win streak for the Flash who still lead the Western Division by a half game over the Idaho Stampede.
Rio Grande Valley struggled to shoot the ball in the first half and found themselves down 59-47 after the first 24 minutes of action. Utah dominated the first half boards 25-19 to help in the strong first half effort.
The Vipers answered back with a bang in the third quarter. They began the third quarter on a 15-4 run and took their first second half lead with 4:05 remaining in the period on Jared Jordan's jumper which made the score 72-71. The Vipers finished the quarter outscoring Utah 37-21 and led 84-80 going into the fourth quarter.
Despite playing a fairly even fourth quarter, the Vipers held on for the victory. RGV out scored Utah 68-51 in the second half and forced Utah into 20 turnovers for the game. RGV also dominated the second half boards 22-13 to help aid in their rally.
Williams led the Vipers five double figure scorers with his 35 hours after being named the D-League Player of the Month for March. It was Williams' first 30+ point contest since he scored 32 back on February 26th, a home win versus Ft. Wayne. Jared Jordan had a dominant second half running the Viper offense as he tallied 12 of his 17 points and dished out 10 of his game high 13 assists in the final 24 minutes. Trent Strickland and Julian Sensely each scored 15 points and Stanely Asumnu scored 16 on 7/10 shooting from the field to round out the double digit scorers for RGV.
Utah Jazz assignee Morris Almond led five double-digit scorers for the Flash with 24 points. J.R. Giddens, a Boston Celtics assignee, scored 22 points. Kosta Koufos, another Jazz assignee tallied a double-double with 13 points and 12 boards. Kevin Kruger and Ronald Dupree scored 19 and 13 points respectively to complete the scoring output from the Flash starters.
The Vipers will play their second of back-to-back road games on Thursday night in Reno, NV when they face the Reno Bighorns. Tip-off is scheduled for 9:00 CT.
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