The Delaware 87ers on Thursday night stalled the Westchester Knicks from getting their club record seventh straight win, with a 106-105 win.
It all started in the first quarter where the Knicks came out swinging early with 6 consecutive made shots to start the quarter which give them a 14-6 lead. Then the Sevens regrouped and they made a 12-1 run to give them a 18-15 lead with 5:28 left in the first quarter. Sevens Anthony ” Cat” Barber and Dionte Christmas each had big three pointers in that 12-1 run. The two teams battled the rest of the quarter with lead changing between them until the 87ers took hold of the lead near the end of the first quarter.
The Sevens would end with a 36-33 lead in the end of the first quarter. The Sevens ended the quarter 8 for 10 downtown with Atlanta Hawks assignment player, Mike Scott went 3 for 3 at the three point line for the Sevens.
It the second quarter the scoring slowed down for both teams and the lead would change 6 times in the quarter with the Knicks up 57-53. Both teams really struggled in the second quarter shooting the ball, Knicks were 8 for 21 and Sevens were 6 for 19 making shots fall. The 87ers three point shooting went cold in the second quarter as well with them only making 1 out of 8 from downtown.
Sevens Shawn Long led the team in points with 14 in the first half.
Knicks Doron Lamb led the team in points with 11 in the first half.
The third quarter was the same as the second quarter both teams neither had the edge on each other and the lead was not safe for either very long. The third quarter ended with the Knicks up 81-76 on the Sevens. Both teams were still struggling with shooting in third with the Knicks shooting 36.4 % and the Sevens 35.3%.
In the fourth quarter is where the game got interesting because it looked like early on the Knicks might start pulling away this game with a 83-76 lead with 11:15 left but the Sevens answered quickly. Sevens tied the game up at 88 a piece with a Shawn Long layup with 6:20 left on the clock. On the way to the bucket, the big man was fouled and went to the line and made the go ahead free throw to put the Sevens up 89-88.
For the final minutes in the fourth Anthony “Cat” Barber was on fire hitting two three pointers in the final minutes and having scoring 11 of his 18 points late in the fourth. Barber did everything to keep the Sevens ahead but those pesky Knicks kept finding a way to hang around.
Knicks Kevin Capers hit a mid-range jumper with 7.5 seconds to give them a 103-102 lead. Then the Sevens answered back with 2 points from Barber and 2 made free throw shots from Dionte Christmas who gave the Sevens a 106-103 lead. Then with 2.7 seconds left Knicks Chasson Randle got fouled by Sevens Mike Scott and that sent him to the line for three possible points to tie the game. Randle made two out of three free throws and the Sevens hung on for a 106-105 win over the Knicks.
Sevens Shawn Long picked up his fourth double-double on the year with 25 points and 13 rebounds( 3 offensive, 11 defensive)on the night.
Other then Long, Sevens had 5 other players score in double digits for the game and they were Anthony Barber ( 18), James Webb III ( 10), Von Wafer ( 11), Mike Scott ( 13), and Dionte Christmas (13).
The Delaware 87ers (4-5) head to Grand Rapids Saturday to continue this three game road trip. Game is on Facebook Live at 7pm ET.
Player stats:
Stats:
FG%
Sevens: 45%
Knicks: 39%
3 Point %
Sevens: 43%
Knicks: 35%
Free Throw %
Sevens: 53%
Knicks: 65%
Rebounds
Sevens: 45
Knicks: 50
Assists
Sevens: 15
Knicks: 14
Turnovers
Sevens: 16
Knicks: 14
Blocked Shots
Sevens: 4
Knicks: 0