INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana and College Park met on Tuesday for the third time this season with the Mad Ants mounting a big comeback to win 102-99.
In both previous meetings, Indiana prevailed in target score overtime.
FIRST QUARTER
Quenton Jackson opened the scoring in his first home game as a Mad Ant, beating the opening shot clock for Indiana. The game went back and forth with College Park going up 13-9 with 7:20 remaining on a Tyson Etienne corner three. A Kyle Mangas fadeaway with 5:18 left in the first quarter pulled Indiana even at 13 all as both teams worked to find a flow early. After an Oscar Tshiebwe bucket pulled Indiana even at 23, Jarkel Joiner’s basket at 1:04 put College Park up 25-23. After the first, College Park led 29-25.
SECOND QUARTER
College Park extended their lead to six with 8:29 left in the second on a David Singleton basket and then to eight on a Brandon Randolph open layup on the next Skyhawk possession to go up 37-29. College Park took the first double digit lead of the game with 6:46 on the clock on a Jordan Bowden three pointer, 40-29. College Park’s defense continued to hold strong in the second, swarming Indiana around the rim as they opened up a 17-point lead with 3:28 to go on a Bowden free throw worth three points.
At the half, College Park led Indiana 57-45.
THIRD QUARTER
Indiana was able to keep the lead around 10-12 points much of the third quarter as Tshiebwe cleaned up on the glass. With 1:22 left in the third, a three from Jackson cut the Indiana deficit to 78-69 before Joiner knocked down a three of his own to beat the Skyhawk shot clock. After three, College Park held onto the lead, 81-69.
FOURTH QUARTER
After forcing a shot clock violation with 10:55 left in the fourth, Indiana cut the deficit to 81-73 with 10:13 to play on a midrange pullup by Jackson. Indiana would close within seven points on an Elfrid Payton basket, 84-77. With 8:26 left, a Mangas steal led to Jackson’s layup that made the game 84-79 still in the Skyhawks’ favor. Back-to-back Randolph baskets for College Park helped them maintain their lead at seven with 7:30 to play, but again Indiana answered on the hands of Payton with 7:23 to play with a basket and-one to cut the deficit to four.
With 6:38 left, Jackson’s corner three cut it to 88-87. With 3:51 left, Craig Sword’s offensive rebound led to a basket that tied the game at 91. Joiner gave College Park the lead back with a dribble drive finish with 3:23 remaining in the game, extended back to four on a Chris Silva free throw. With 43.3 seconds left, Indiana regained the lead on a goaltend against College Park to make it 100-99.
Mangas went to the line with 10 seconds to play and hit two free throws to give Indiana the 102-99 lead.
Jackson led all scorers with 29 points, followed by a 19 point, 10 rebound, 9 assist outing from Payton. Tshiebwe added a 12-point, 21 rebound double double for the Mad Ants.
Joiner led College Park with 22 points, followed by 17 from Bowden and 15 out of Silva.
Of note, Stephan Hicks appeared in his 248th career game as a Mad Ant, making him the all-time leader in games played for the franchise.
Originally posted on gleague.nba.com