INDIANAPOLIS – Wrapping up January, the Mad Ants and Gold got together for a single game on Wednesday night, with Indiana taking a 119-98 win to complete a 4-1 home stand.
FIRST QUARTER
Indiana shot out to the early lead on a euro step finished from Pedro Bradshaw, taking an 8-3 lead with 9:15 left in the opening quarter. A Grand Rapids 5-0 run cut their deficit to 13-10 before a Kyle Mangas three pointer got Indiana back on the board. Au’Diese Toney responded for the Gold as the teams continued to exchange baskets; an Andrew Funk give and go basket with 4:49 left in the first cut the Mad Ants lead to 19-14. After one, Indiana led 27-19.
SECOND QUARTER
With 6:35 left in the opening half, Darius McGhee’s third triple pushed the Indiana lead to 44-32. With five and a half minutes to play in the half, a Walter Ellis and-one pulled Grand Rapids back within seven points. With 3:39 left, Mangas drove to the basket to finish and push the lead back to double digits at 49-39. At the half, Indiana held a 58-46 advantage.
THIRD QUARTER
The start to the second half was a bit of back and forth between the two teams, with Bell’s bucket with 7:43 to play stretching the Mad Ants lead to 16 at 69-53. Indiana’s lead went to 20 with 6:39 to play on a floater from Bell to make it 73-53. The lead continued to float neat 20 points with a deep McGhee three at 3:11 making it 82-60 before Hunter Tyson responded for the Gold. A Zak Irvin basket with 1:25 to go cut the Indiana lead down to 84-67, followed by a Tyson three for the Gold. After three, Indiana led 84-70.
FOURTH QUARTER
Two free throws near the 11-minute mark hit by the Mad Ants, one from Stephan Hicks and one from Mangas for a Gold technical foul, pushed the lead to 87-70. With 9:35 to go, an Andrew Funk basket cut the Indiana lead to 90-78; Jalen Pickett followed it up on the next Grand Rapids possession to knock Indiana’s lead down to 10 points. With 7:02 left, a Mangas three got the Mad Ants rolling again, back up 97-83. As the Gold were pushing back, Isaiah Wong knocked down a shot at 2:41 that gave Indiana a 109-96 win.
Indiana was led by Mangas’ 25 points, followed by a season high 21 from Bradshaw and 20 points from Wong. Bell had a 15 point, 12 rebound double double with seven assists and four blocked shots. Grand Rapids was paced by Toney’s 21 and 20 from Tyson.
The Mad Ants return to action quickly with a road game Thursday at Motor City, with a 7 p.m. eastern tip.
Originally posted on gleague.nba.com