Season Finale Goes to the Sioux Falls Skyforce
The Sioux Falls Skyforce season is over. It was capped by a wire-to-wire win over the Austin Spurs 136-120 on Saturday night at H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas.
In this game of Texas Hold ‘Em, Sioux Falls (29-21) went all in for their final outing without the prospect of playoff competition. Starting with a 37-21 first quarter, the Skyforce survived every run including one Austin (25-25) push to whittle the lead to 68-66 early in the third quarter.
Four straight Skyforce buckets reignited the flame which was mostly in double digits for the balance of the contest with a high watermark of 19 points. Dislodging the ball from the Spurs made the difference defensively inducing 19 turnovers while committing only 8. As evidence, the visitors put up 18 more shots (97-79) than Austin.
With 28 points and 10 rebounds, it’s another double-double for Keith Benson. Plus KB finishes the season as the 8th player in Skyforce history to score over 2,000 points in his Skyforce career (2,003).
Malik Beasley finishes his time on assignment from the Denver Nuggets with 22 points, 8 rebounds with 5 assists and Patrick Miller scored 21 plus 5 dimes.
Jeff Ledbetter topped the scoring pylon for all competitors with 29 points including 5 from long distance off the bench. Orlando Johnson put together an efficient night with 25 points and 7 boards.
The Western Conference playoffs begin with fourth seeded Santa Cruz facing top seeded Oklahoma City. Third seed Rio Grande Valley Vipers against second seeded Los Angeles D-Fenders will be the other matchup.
In the Eastern Conference, Raptors 905 complete the second-best season in league history (39-11) and get the Canton Charge in round one. The Maine Red Claws and Fort Wayne Mad Ants are the other pairing.