by WESTCHESTER, New York – The Grand Rapids Drive (22-25) played well one day after being eliminated from playoff contention, defeating the Westchester Knicks (10-37) on the road Mondaynight by a score of 111-103.
The loss is the seventh consecutive defeat for the Knicks. They have been much better at home, as nine of their 10 wins have been at the County Center. But it wasn’t enough on Monday.
The Drive scored the first 10 points of the game, but Westchester responded with the next 13. The Knicks led by four points after the first quarter, but the Drive closed and tied the game at 61 by the time halftime hit.
Grand Rapids then outplayed their opponents just enough to seal the win down the stretch, reaching a double-digit lead for the first time with just under ten minutes remaining. They led for almost the entire second half.
The Knicks were able to cut the lead to just five with three minutes to go on a three-pointer by Nate Covington, and Thanasis Antetokounmpo scored, stole the ball and scored again soon after to bring the lead down to three. But the Drive got the next stop and Manny Atkins drained a corner three-pointer to seal the win.
Adonis Thomas had a big game on the offensive side of the court for the visiting team, pouring in a season-high 34 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Kevin Murphy also had a great game, scoring 22 points, and Hasheem Thabeet just missed a triple-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and a whopping nine blocks.
Darnell Jackson led a balanced attack by the Knicks, scoring 23 points and collecting nine rebounds. Antetokounmpo added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Ben Strong (Red Lake Nation) also had a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
The Knicks shot the ball well and rebounded admirably against a bigger Grand Rapids squad, but were plagued by turnover problems, committing 19 of them.
Grand Rapids also had quite the game at the free-throw line, converting 27 of 34 attempts. Westchester hit all but one of their attempts, but drew just 13 of them.
The Drive’s next game is at home Wednesday against the Central Division-leading Sioux Falls Skyforce, who recently clinched a playoff berth. The Knicks travel to Des Moines the same day to take on the Iowa Energy.
