Austin Spurs clinch Southwest Division title, will face Rio Grande Valley in playoffs

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It was a busy end to the regular season for the Austin Spurs, as the silver and black swept a home back-to-back to clinch the second overall seed in the playoffs and their fourth division title in franchise history.

Austin would dispatch the Texas Legends easily on Friday night, defeating their rivals 104-84, to clinch the division title. Led by Deshaun Thomas and Brandon Fields, who had 19 points and 18 points respectively, the Spurs would push their 11-point halftime lead to 30 points, before settling for the 20-point win.

The Spurs would build on their playoff momentum Saturday night versus the Los Angeles D-Fenders, who were hoping to spoil the Spurs homecourt advantage chances, while getting an early scouting report on Spurs head coach Ken McDonald’s squad, as the two teams could meet in the Western Conference Finals. Austin was led by another spectacular scoring performance by Deshaun Thomas, who had a team-high 25 points. Cady Lalanne would drop 21 points and eight rebounds, with Nick Johnson chipping in 14 points.

Four straight wins would be the perfect way for the Austin Spurs to end the season, lifting the Spurs to a 6-6 finish in the month of March, and a 30-20 record overall. Now the men from Cedar Park will get to take on a familiar foe in the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (29-21), in a best-of-three first round series of the Western Conference playoffs.

By The Numbers

  • Spurs regular season record versus Vipers: 1-5
  • Points per game: RVG – 116.3 (2nd), ATX – 102.3 (16th)
  • Rebounds per game: RVG – 47.1 (2nd), ATX – 46.5 (3rd)
  • Assists per game: RVG – 20.5 (10th), ATX – 18.1 (17th)
  • Turnovers per game: RVG – 17.6 (18th), ATX – 16.9 (14th)

Austin Spurs leaders (min. 30 games played)

  • Points per game: Deshaun Thomas – 14.7 ppg
  • Rebounds per game: Cady Lalanne – 7.6 rpg
  • Assists per game: Keifer Sykes: 3.1 apg

Rio Grande Valley Vipers leaders (min. 30 games played)

  • Points per game: Will Cummings – 20.5 ppg
  • Rebounds per game: Raphiael Putney – 8.1 rpg
  • Assists per game: Will Cummings – 4.8 apg

Playoff schedule

Game 1 – Tuesday, April 5th – 7:00 p.m. – at UTRGV Fieldhouse
Game 2 – Thursday, April 7th – 7:30 p.m. – at Cedar Park Center
Game 3* – Saturday, April 9th – 12:00 p.m. – at Cedar Park Center
*if necessary

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