CEDAR PARK – The San Antonio Spurs announced that Boban Marjanovic and Jonathon Simmons had been assigned to Austin prior to Sunday afternoon’s matchup against the Bakersfield Jam.
With the added firepower provided by Marjanovic and Simmons, the Austin Spurs managed to achieve a season-low in points and assists, as the Bakersfield Jam defeated the silver and black, 103-73, sending the Spurs to their fifth straight loss.
Terrico White led the way for Bakersfield with 25 points and nine rebounds in 42 minutes. Forward Cory Jefferson also nearly double-doubled with 23 points and eight rebounds, while former Stephen F. Austin High School product, Xavier Silas, added in 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and one steal in 41 minutes.
For the Austin Spurs, Marjanovic notched a double-double in the first half to finish with 21 points and 15 rebounds in 26 minutes. Simmons and Keifer Sykes would add 12 points apiece for the Spurs, while Youssou Ndoye put up 10 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
The Jam came out of the gate on fire to start the first quarter, making six three-pointers on 12 attempts to take an early 33-21 lead to end the quarter. Austin managed to cut the Jam lead down to two points after a 13-3 run made the score 36-34 in favor of Bakersfield, but the Jam responded with a 10-2 run of their own to push themselves to a 52-45 lead at halftime. The Spurs would never get closer than five points of the Jam in the second half, as a combined 28 second half points by Austin would doom them in the 30 point defeat.
Even with Simmons, Marjanovic and Walter Tavares, who is on assignment from the Atlanta Hawks, the NBA talent on Austin’s roster couldn’t prevent the current slide the Spurs are on.
The Spurs set a season-low in points with 73, beating the total of 78 points scored against Oklahoma City back in February. Austin has also managed to set a season-low in team assists for the third time in as many games, with four total dimes on the night. The four assists beat out the Spurs total of 10 assists in their last two games, and is also the lowest total of assists tallied by any team in the Development League this season. The silver and black also went 1-for-11 from beyond the arch (9.1 percent), which is the worst performance from three for the Spurs this season, and tied for second worst three point shooting performance in the league this year.
With the Austin Spurs (25-19) division lead over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers cut down to one game, the magic number to clinch a playoff spot for the Spurs still remains three, with six games left in the season. They will face the team breathing down their neck in the Texas Legends (21-23) on Thursday, March 24th at 7 p.m. from the Cedar Park Center.
