Fort Wayne & NE Indiana News

The latest positive news written by residents and organizations in our community.
Business   |   Sports

Fort Wayne Falls To Long Island After A Long-Fought Battle

The Fort Wayne Mad Ants (9-3) fell to the Long Island Nets (4-11) after a back and forth battle at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Friday night.

Long Island led Fort Wayne throughout the entire first quarter. Mike Scott scored on the first possession of the game and went on to 3-1 run himself to bring the Nets up 7-2.

Down by nine with under two minutes left in the first, the Mad Ants went on a 3-2 run. A last second layup by Alex Poythress that would have broken the Nets lead to one point was overturned by officials to end the quarter at 25-22.

Fort Wayne went on a 10-4 run in the second quarter to gain their first lead in the game (48-47) with just over two minutes left in the first half.

The Nets and Mad Ants tied at 53 points to complete the quarter. Mad Ants scored 21 points off the bench in the second (Travis Leslie-10, Jordan Loyd-11). Long Island’s Scott closed in on 12 to end the first half and Leslie with 13 for the Mad Ants.

In a back to back battle, both teams went on to score a total of 30 points each, to end the third in another tie at 83 points.

Long Island started the fourth regaining their lead with a 10-5 run. Trashon Burrell racked on nine points of the 10 possessions.

With under five minutes, a slam dunk by Poythress followed with a steal by Leslie into a trey-ball by Trey McKinney-Jones, tied the game at 75 with 3:48 to go.

Poythress scored 15 of the Mad Ants 30 points in the quarter. He continued-on to extend the Mad Ants drive against the Nets.

Gary Forbes brought back the lead for Long Island with a three-ball within eight minutes of the fourth (93-94).

Fort Wayne fought till the end but was unable to regain their momentum and fell 118-113 Long Island.

Burrell recorded a double-double scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Long Island had four other players finish in double digits; Scott led the team with 23 points, fellow Hoosier Yogi Ferrell logged 16, Chris McCullough tacked on 14, and Donnie McGrath laid in 12.

Poythress also had himself a double-double night scoring a season/career high 32 points and 11 rebounds. Fort Wayne also had four other players in double digits. Off the bench, Leslie handed the Mad Ants 21 points and Loyd logged 16. McKinney-Jones recorded 12 and Indiana Pacer assignee, Rakeem Christmas added 10.

The Mad Ants will play their last game of a six-game home stand against Greensboro on Tuesday. The game on December 20th, will tipoff at 7 p.m.