The Canton Charge won their third-straight contest with a 106-90 victory over the Maine Red Claws at the Canton Memorial Civic Center on Tuesday night. Canton climbed above .500 for the first time in their inaugural campaign at 6-5 while Maine fell to 4-7. The win evened the season series at one win each.
Canton was paced by team-leading scorer Tyrell Biggs’ 20 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. In his first game back with the Charge since leaving for NBA training camp with the Utah Jazz, Keith McLeod supplied a season-high 23 points with five assists off the bench.
The Charge came out surging in the first period, outscoring the Red Claws 34-15 for their highest single-quarter output of the season. Canton was 11-of-21 (.524) from the floor and 6-of-7 (.857) from the three-point line in the first. McLeod had 10 in the opening quarter, including a 46-foot dagger to beat the buzzer.
Maine would respond in the second with some energy of their own, posting a 12-2 run early in the quarter. The Red Claws would get within eight at the half, but the Charge would never let them get any closer the rest of the way leading by 21 at one point in the fourth.
Antonio Graves put up 11 points off the bench in his Charge debut after being sidelined the first 10 games with a wrist injury. Dante Milligan entered the game third in the D-League in rebounds per game with 11.0 and nabbed 16 on the night. Antoine Agudio put up 10 points for his fourth straight game with double-digit scoring.
The Red Claws were paced by Paul Harris’ double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds. Durrell Summers posted 15 points and five points off the bench. After burning Canton with 33 points on 7-of-11 shooting beyond the arc in their first meeting on December 10, Courtney Pigram was held to just six points and no three-point attempts on the night for Maine.
The two Eastern Conference foes will meet again at the Civic Center Thursday night for their third matchup of the season at 7:00 p.m. It will be the third installment of a four-game homestand for Canton.
CANTON CHARGE POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH ALEX JENSEN
(Opening Statement): “You saw how good we can be defensively. We did a phenomenal job in the first quarter. That’s why we practice and everybody bought in. We had good offense, we outscored them 34 to 15 in the first quarter and it’s all basically because of our defense, and then we get easy, open jumpers and easy baskets on the other end…
(Courtney) Pigram had seven threes (in the first meeting) and he didn’t even attempt one tonight. Guys took the challenge of guarding the man they had and it’s just a matter of trying to sustain it over a longer period of time instead of having the peaks and valleys. Maine really did a great job, being down by 20 and coming back in the first half. That being said, the hard thing is that in two days, we have them again.”
(On the growing maturity of the team): “The point is this is how good we can be if we sustain it. I think we have that capability, that’s what we’ll show them tomorrow in film. We’ll show them the capabilities they have and the ceiling. The ceiling is high and it’s a matter of reaching it together.”
KYLE GIBSON
(On letting the Red Claws back in the game in the second quarter): “I think we just had a little letdown with the energy with the first and second groups that came in, but we picked it back up well at the end of the half. Coach has talked about getting back on D. That’s mostly what they are getting their points from: in transition, fast break points and the free throw line. Coach just said to lock down and we came out on fire in the second half.”
(On playing more consistent in second half): “Coach just reminded us what happened last time (against Maine). We were on the losing end of the first game. He just reiterated that we needed to lock down on defense and put these guys away.”
(On offensive efficiency): “That’s the mentality that you have to have. With the minutes you get, the possessions you get and the times you get to shoot- you have to knock it down and just be ready. I just put a lot of extra work. Lately, I have been putting in the extra work with some shots and stuff and luckily it was hitting for me today.”
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