INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana overcame significant fourth quarter pushback Monday night from Wisconsin and extended a league and franchise best winning streak to 10 games. With the win, the Mad Ants become the first team in the league to qualify for the NBA G League Showcase Cup in Orlando, Florida next week. Eight teams will qualify for the weeklong tournament during the NBA G League Winter Showcase.
Kendall Brown led a balanced Indiana scoring attack with 23 points, adding eight rebounds, while Jordan Bell added 18 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. The Mad Ants shot 51.1 percent from the field in the game to Wisconsin’s 43.8 percent.
Wisconsin jumped out early, going up 11-6 on a Wenyen Gabriel basket as the Herd worked to exploit a size mismatch inside. Indiana pushed back on a three pointer from Isaiah Wong and back-to-back and-one opportunities for Bell to retake the lead at 17-13 early in the first. Wisconsin hit back too though with Lindell Wigginton, leading all scorers in the first quarter with 10 and the Herd led 31-27 at the first break.
The teams continued to trade the lead in the second quarter with Brown putting Indiana up 44-40 with 6:19 to play. Indiana would take their biggest lead of the ballgame to that point (48-42) with 4:56 to play in the half as Kyle Mangas beat the shot clock with a deep jumper. Indiana would go on a run to extend their lead to 12 with 2:19 to play in the half on a Pedro Bradshaw basket. Indiana led 60-48 at the halftime break.
Both teams came out firing in the third, but Wisconsin couldn’t cut it to 10 with multiple opportunities until 3:45 when Wigginton laid the ball up on a fast break to make it 76-66 in Indiana’s favor. With 2:36 to play in the third, a Gabriel basket cut the lead to 76-71, followed by a Drew Timme basket on the next Herd possession. After three quarters, Indiana held onto an 83-76 lead.
Mangas pushed the lead to 88-80 with 9:37 to play with a three pointer, followed by Bell adding a free throw after being fouled on the same play to make it 89-80. Wisconsin answered with five straight points and with 7:17 left, a TyTy Washington three cut the lead to 91-88 for Indiana. Jazian Gortman hit a free throw worth three points with 4:26 to play in the game to cut the lead to 95-94 for Indiana. With 2:47 to play, Wigginton rose up to knock down a three pointer to tie the game at 99, answered back on the other end by a Kendall Brown triple on the next play. Elfrid Payton came up clutch to close out the game with back-to-back baskets to push the Indiana lead to 106-99 with 58.3 seconds to go.
Joining Brown and Bell in double figures for Indiana was Mangas (20), Wong (13), Payton (13) and Pedro Bradshaw (10). Wisconsin was led by a game high 24 points from Wigginton, followed by 17 from Gortman, 16 from Washington, 14 from Elijah Hughes and a 12-point, 13 rebound effort from Gabriel. The two teams will meet again on Wednesday with a 6:00 tip at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Originally posted on gleague.nba.com