| INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana and Santa Cruz finished off their two-game series on Thursday with the Mad Ants coming out with the 137-130 victory. The win was the 400th in Mad Ants franchise history. Indiana (4-1) was led by Ben Sheppard’s 28 points. The Mad Ants shot 52 percent from the field compared to 45.5 percent from Santa Cruz (1-3). FIRST QUARTER The opening three minutes saw a back-and-forth battle, with Indiana getting the first two possession advantage, going up 9-5 on an Oscar Tshiebwe jumper. Indiana would push the lead to a then game high seven points with 3:15 left in the first on a Jordan Bell dunk. Santa Cruz would then go on a 5-0 run before Darius McGhee drew a foul that put the Mad Ants back in the scoring column to go up 31-27. After one, Indiana led 35-29. SECOND QUARTER Bell opened up the second quarter with his third thunderous dunk of the game, but the Warriors would score the next seven points with Donovan Williams throwing down a dunk that made it 37-36, still in Indiana’s favor. With 5:59 left in the first half, a Tshiebwe putback dunk pushed the Mad Ants lead to double digits at 54-44. With 1:59 left in the half, a Kendric Davis and-one put the Warriors back within single digits at 66-57. At the half however, Indiana held a 74-57 lead. THIRD QUARTER Santa Cruz pushed the pressure early, outscoring Indiana 7-2 in the first two minutes of the second half to cut the Indiana lead to 76-64. After a Javan Johnson three with 9:40 on the clock, the Warriors had it down to 76-67. Back-to-back baskets from Ben Sheppard and Jarace Walker would end the Mad Ants scoring drought, but Santa Cruz worked to keep pace with 8:20 left in the third on a Davis basket to make it 81-71 in Indiana’s favor. After a pair of McGhee three pointers, Indiana’s lead was back up to 91-74; the Warriors then went on a 9-2 run. After three, Indiana led 102-92. FOURTH QUARTER Four quick points for the Warriors in the fourth quarter started them off on the right foot, but Walker responded with 10:49 to play in the game with an and-one to make it 105-96 in Indiana’s favor. Pat Spencer’s basket with 6:10 left in the game cut the Mad Ants’ lead to 115-112, yet again Indiana responded with a 4-0 run before a Yuri Collins three for Santa Cruz. With 4:17 to play, a Kyle Mangas three pointer put Indiana up 122-115, followed by McGhee’s fourth triple of the game to make it 125-115. With 2:06 left, a Gui Santos three pointer cut the Mad Ants lead to one at 128-127. Following Sheppard was 26 points from Jarace Walker, 18 from Oscar Tshiebwe, a 14 point/11 rebound effort from Jordan Bell and a career high 18 points from Darius McGhee. Kendric Davis led all scorers with 33 for Santa Cruz, followed by 26 from Donovan Williams and a 24 point/14 rebound double double from Gui Santos. Indiana returns to action next Wednesday as they host rival Cleveland with a 12:30 tip at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Originally posted on gleague.nba.com |