The Fort Wayne Mad Ants (8-2) regained their confidence after suffering their first home loss this past Thursday. Mad Ants defeated the Texas Legends (6-5) at the Coliseum 113-106 Saturday night.
The Legends were held by the Mad Ants through the entire outing. Alex Poythress started the game off hot scoring the Mad Ants first four points on the first two possessions.
Back to back layups by Travis Leslie and Jordan Loyd helped Fort Wayne extended their lead over Texas to 17 points to end the quarter.
Mad Ants Shot 63 percent from the field and 43 percent from three in the first quarter. Poythress made his presence down low (6-9) and recorded a trey ball to lead Fort Wayne with 13 points.
Fort Wayne made their mark in the first half by keeping Texas guard and NBA D-League’s leading scorer, Manny Harris to zero points in the first half.
Texas’ Jameel Warney recorded 10 points in the second quarter to lead both teams in scoring with 16 points in the first half.
Fort Wayne had three players score in double digits in the first half. Stephan Hicks and Georges Niang both finished the second with 10 points. The Mad Ants went into the half leading 62-47.
The Mad Ants offense kept rolling in the third quarter. 12 of Fort Wayne’s 28 points scored came by the three-ball. Niang contributed nine points to help extend their lead to 28.
Starting with six minutes left in the third, the Mad Ants went on a 9-0 run including a 3-pointer from Hicks and a monstrous dunk to finish off an alley-oop from Poythress.
The Legends’ Pierre Jackson erupted in the third, scoring 10 points, going 4-5 from the field and finishing the quarter with 21 points.
Texas tried to claw their way back during the fourth quarter. At the midway point of the fourth, the Legends’ went on a 12-2 run with help from C.J. Williams’ two shots from downtown, cutting the Mad Ants’ lead to 10 with 3:27 remaining in the game.
Fort Wayne held off the comeback attempt, as two thunderous dunks from Trey McKinney-Jones and Poythress kept the momentum in the Mad Ants favor.
Jackson continued his dominant second half for Texas, scoring 11 points in the fourth quarter; he finished the game with a total of 32 points. Jameel Warney added 22 points and eight rebounds. Quincy Acy recorded a double-double consisting of 15 points and 15 rebounds.
Five Mad Ants players finished in double digits. Poythress recorded a double-double of his own with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Niang was not far behind with 22 points of his own, along with six rebounds and six assists. Loyd managed 16 points and 7 rebounds. McKinney-Jones racked up 15 points. Hicks was one rebound shy of a double-double with 13 points and nine boards.
The Mad Ants will play again on Sunday at home against the Delaware 87ers. The game on December 11th, will tipoff at 5 p.m.
