AUSTIN – After what might be the most insane finish in G League history, Darrun Hilliard and the Austin Spurs managed to win a 98-96 against the Lakeland Magic.
Hilliard scored four points in the final 3.1 seconds to end the Magic’s league-high 7-game win streak.
THE BASICS
· Date: Thursday, December 28 | 7:30 p.m. tipoff CST
· Location: H-E-B Center at Cedar Park| Austin, Texas
· Attendance: 3,619
· Officials: William Mensah, Jonathan Sterling, Kayla Maxey
· Get Social: Twitter – @spursonsixth | Facebook – Spurs on Sixth
TURNING POINT
In what seemed to be a tale of two halves, the Spurs found themselves up by as many 13 points in the opening half. But the G League’s best team, record-wise, responded after the break.
After the Magic knotted the game up at 96 on a halfcourt alley-oop, Hilliard managed to receive a foul call with two ticks left to sink two huge free throws for the win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Austin shot 45 percent (36-for-80) from the floor, while the Magic were just a tad more efficient at 38-of-78 (49 percent) from the floor.
• The Spurs went 5-of-21 (24 percent) from beyond the arc in the 2-point victory and shot a nice 21-of-26 (81 percent) from the charity stripe. The Magic, meanwhile, were 13-of-31 (42 percent) from downtown and went a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe.
• Despite being outrebounded by three (35-32), Austin recorded four more team blocks than the Magic (6-2).
• Lakeland recorded 18 assists and 10 steals total, while the Spurs registered 16 assists and just six team steals.
INSIDE THE FLOW
• Fans saw a massive 12 total ties and 10 lead changes Thursday evening.
• After opening the game on a 15-4 run, the Spurs controlled the entire first half, taking a double-digit lead into the break (50-38).
• The Magic managed a 13-0 run midway through the third quarter to pull within four.
• Another quick 5-0 run, capped off by a three-pointer by Foster knotted the game up at 60 all with 4:27 to go in the third.
• Brimah scored four of the last six points for the Spurs in the third as Austin took a 4-point lead into the fourth quarter.
• Artis’ 3-pointer with 14 seconds left looked to be the overtime-clinching basket, however Hilliard’s mid-range bucket gave the Spurs a two-point lead with 3.1 seconds left.
• Exactly one second later, Artis laid in an alley-oop pass before Hilliard would sink the game-winning free throws with one second left.
NOTABLES
• Jaron Blossomgame had a team-high 18 points and 10 boards in the victory; his seventh double-double on the season.
• Two-way player Darrun Hilliard finished with 17 points in 30 minutes of action.
• Olivier Hanlan scored 14 points off of the bench for Austin.
• Rodney Purvis led the Lakeland Magic with 24 points in 38 minutes of play, including 7-of-11 from beyond the arc (64 percent).
• Austin now has won five of its last six games and improves to 8-6 inside the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park with a current 2-game win streak.
UP NEXT
The Spurs hit the road for a lengthy 5-game road trip beginning on New Year’s Eve. First up, Austin travels to Canada to take on Raptors 905 this Sunday at 1 PM CST.
