Poor second half dooms Spurs, fall to Skyforce on the road

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SIOUX FALLS – The Austin Spurs dropped their first road game of the season, falling to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, 105-82 on Tuesday night.

Jarell Eddie’s hot shooting led the way for the Spurs, as the forward finished with 22 points, five rebounds, two assists and three steals. Livio Jean-Charles notched his second double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes of action. Patricio Garino flirted with a triple-double as he stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists in 33 minutes. Cory Jefferson added 14 points for the Spurs off the bench.

Seven players for the Skyforce scored in double figures, highlighted by Okaro White’s 24 points. Additionally, White had 13 rebounds and two assists. Briante Weber also flirted with a triple-double, but finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, 12 assists and four steals in 34 minutes. Jabril Trawick had 16 points, two rebounds and four assists. Keith Benson had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Bubu Palo and Marcus Posley had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

A back and forth first quarter saw the Skyforce lead by as much as seven points in the early going, but a pair of 3-pointers by Eddie helped bring the Spurs to within one point at the end of the period.

Eddie and Jean-Charles would fuel the Spurs second quarter offense, but Posley and Benson kept the Skyforce in striking distance as both teams would head into halftime tied at 50.

The first half saw 14 different lead changes between the two teams, with the game being tied eight times, before Sioux Falls would break the game wide open in the second half.

A quick 7-0 run for the Skyforce would be ended by another Eddie 3-pointer, but Sioux Falls would follow Eddie’s basket with a 14-3 run and never looked back. The Spurs committed 22 turnovers in the game, with 13 coming in the second half alone. Austin also shot a season-low 39 percent in route to the 23-point defeat.

The Austin Spurs (3-2) will look for their first road win of the season on Friday night against the Grand Rapids Drive (2-1), before returning to Austin for a full week off. Friday night’s game will take place at the DeltaPlex Arena in Walker, Michigan, with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m. CST. The game will be broadcast live on the NBA Development League’s Facebook page.

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