The Steel City Yellow Jackets picked up their first win of the season tonight as they defeated the Reading Wizards by the score of 114-105. It was a close game late, but the Yellow Jackets defense held strong and improved the Yellow Jackets record to 1-1 on the season.
The Steel City Yellow Jackets concluded their opening weekend festivities tonight as they took on the Reading Wizards for their second game of the season. After falling to the Kentucky Enforcers in their opening game of the season, the Yellow Jackets looked to bounce back in tonight's game. They were able to do just that as they defeated the Reading Wizards by the score of 114-105.
The Reading Wizards were playing their second game of the season as well and came into this contest with a 1-0 record after defeating the Philadelphia Cannon by the score of 106-99. The Yellow Jackets, however, dropped their previous game to the Kentucky Enforcers by the score of 131-124 as they were looking to get back to .500.
The Yellow Jackets offense was shooting on all cylinders early on in this game in front of a crowd of about 50 people at the Barack Obama Academy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The offense managed to score 36 points in the opening quarter thanks to hot hands from both Davont Jackson and Marcus Smith. Jackson had a team high 13 points in the first quarter including a three pointer, while Smith tacked on seven points in the first quarter of play.
The Yellow Jackets would score a total of 36 points in the first quarter to jump out to a 36-19 lead. However, the Wizards would finally get their offense going in the second quarter as they ended up outscoring the Yellow Jackets 29-26 cutting into the Yellow Jackets half-time lead making it 61-48, and the Yellow Jackets would lead at half-time for the second straight game.
The Jackets shot 24 for 54 from the floor in the first half including seven for 24 beyond the arc. Jackson and Baker lead the team in scoring at half-time with 13 points each. The Yellow Jackets would have to hold on to their lead in the second half if they wanted to come out on top. They would be helped in the third quarter by the three point shot, which was on fire for the Yellow Jackets all night long.
Lawrence Baker started the third quarter on an incredible hot streak from beyond the arc as he made four straight three point shots in a row to drive his scoring total up to 25 points on the day. However, the Jackets would once again be outscored in the quarter and their lead was again cut down to 86-82 with one quarter of basketball left to play. The fourth quarter was where the Jackets lost their first game of the season, and on this night they weren't going to let it happen again.
The Yellow Jackets would use the free throw line to their advantage as they made 76% of their free throws,13 of their 17, in the second half and put 27 points up in the fourth quarter to the Wizards 23 to hold on to the 114-105 victory. It was the second straight day in which the Yellow Jackets scored 100 plus points and they were able to even their record to (1-1).
The Yellow Jackets were lead offensively on the day by Lawrence Baker who put up a team high 29 points on the night while pulling in seven rebounds and eight assists. The Yellow Jackets had a total of five players score in double digits including Jackson (13), Gilmore Cummings (14), Antonio Reddic (12), and Lamont Wright (10). Reddic lead the Jackets defensively as he pulled down a team high nine rebounds on the day.
Steel City Yellow Jackets Player of the Game: Lawrence Baker
Lawrence Baker picks up the player of the game honors for game two of the 2016/2017 season for his efforts against the Wizards where he scored 29 points with eight assists and seven rebounds on the night. It was Baker's hot hand from the three point line in the third quarter that helped lead the Jackets to victory as he sank four straight three point shots and added a free throw in that quarter as well. Baker's 29 points puts his total through two games to 53 points on the season which leads the team.
No comments:
Post a Comment