AUSTIN – After last night’s heroics, the Austin Spurs showed no signs of fatigue on Friday night, as they subdued the Northern Arizona Suns, 110-103.
Bryn Forbes continues to impress while on assignment from San Antonio, as he led the way with 24 points, five rebounds and four assists. Cory Jefferson notched another double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds in 30 minutes. Ryan Arcidiacono finished with 17 points on 5-for-6 shooting and six rebounds.
For the Suns, Xavier Silas led the way with a game-high 26 points. Shaquille Harrison added 21 points in 26 minutes off the bench. Elijah Millsap had an insane double-double stat line, finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds and six steals before fouling out. Askia Booker also stuffed the stat sheet, despite a poor shooting performance, tallying 13 points, four rebounds and seven assists.
Austin was on the opposite end of a slow start against the Suns before a Cory Jefferson slam dunk woke up the Spurs offense. While both teams struggled offensively to maintain any momentum, the Spurs erased a 7-point Suns lead to finish the quarter up 20-15.
In the second quarter, Forbes recaptured his offensive magic from Thursday night, scoring 11 points in the period to push Austin ahead 53-48 at the half.
Silas would attempt to save the day for Northern Arizona, but Austin’s offense stifled the Suns comeback attempt, holding them to just 32 percent shooting in the third. The Spurs pushed their lead up to 12 points heading into the final quarter.
Austin’s perpetual affinity for fourth quarter collapses almost came to fruition against Northern Arizona. The Spurs maintained a serviceable lead for a majority of the final frame, but Harrison scored 12 of his 21 points in the quarter to bring the Suns within four points late. Luckily the Spurs would survive a free throw contest down the stretch to seal a 7-point victory.
Now that they’ve survived the back-to-back, the Austin Spurs (17-19) will continue their extended home stand on Sunday afternoon against the Iowa Energy (9-28). Tipoff is at 3 p.m. CST from the HEB Center at Cedar Park.
