The Delaware 87ers won in thrilling fashion for their last game of 2016 on Friday night at the Bob Carpenter Center. The Sevens beat the Long Island Nets 111-95 which was an exciting game for the home crowd in Newark, Delaware.
It all started in the first quarter where for the majority of the quarter the two teams were trading buckets every other possession. Then around the 8:28 mark in first quarter the Nets went on a 6-2 run to put them ahead 12-8. Long Island would maintain the lead for the rest of the 1st quarter with the Sevens always close behind. Nets closed the quarter leading 26-21.
Then in the second quarter it looked liked the Sevens were back in the game because they went on a quick 6-2 run to tie the game up at 28 with 10:05 remaining in the second quarter. David Laury III led the Sevens on that run with 4 points and a rebound.
Sevens momentum quickly faded when Nets Taurean Prince made a jump shot to put his team up by 2 around the 7 minute mark. After that the Nets would not let go of the lead for the rest of the quarter and their biggest lead of the quarter was 11 points. The Nets led at halftime 50-39.
The Nets were 40.9% from the field in the first half and the Sevens were 31.1 %.
Long Island was 37.5 % from the three point line and Sevens were 27.3%.
Yogi Ferrell led the Nets in points with 12 in the first half.
Three Sevens were tied at 7 points in the first half and they were James Webb III, Dionte Christmas and Anthony ” Cat” Barber.
The first half belonged to the Nets but second half the Sevens came out energized own that half.
Sevens comeback started with a quick 6-2 run in the early minutes of the third quarter that narrowed the lead to 52-46. Sevens were led by Dionte Christmas whose three good free throw shots started the run.
Then around the 6:51 mark in the third the Sevens finally took a 58-57 lead with a Shawn Long layup. About a minute later the 87ers had their biggest lead of six when Anthony ” Cat” Barber hit a layup.
The Nets just would not go away though, they went on a 6-0 run around the 4 minute mark to tie the game at 65. Then for the last minute of third the teams would trade baskets and the lead until the Sevens could finally hold a lead of 73-71 with seconds left in the quarter.
The Sevens outscored the Nets 34-21 in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter it was all Sevens, in the open minutes of the 4th they came out with a 17-6 run to increase their to lead to 90-78. David Laury III and Devondrick Walker both came up big for the Sevens during that run with Laury scoring 8 and Walker hitting two three pointers for the early run. The Sevens would maintain the lead all the way to the final buzzer with a comeback 111-95 win.
The Sevens outscored the Nets 34-28 in the fourth quarter.
Sevens head coach Eugene Burroughs said this about the team’s turn around in the second half:
“I thought we just came out and played a little bit harder,” Head Coach Eugene Burroughs said after the game. “I think we were playing in mud in the first half; in the second half, basically we just challenged the guys that ‘we just have to play hard, play more together, be selfless, set screens for each other, rebound the basketball’ and we actually came out and defended.”
James Webb III led the Sevens with 18 points in the game. Along with Webb III , six other Sevens hit double figures in points and they were Dionte Christmas ( 17), Shawn Long (16), Anthony ” Cat” Barber (15), Devondrick Walker (13), David Laury III (16) and Lorrenzo Wade Jr. (10).
Sevens head coach Eugene Burroughs credited the players giving it their all in practices for the dominating second half performance.
“It’s a great tribute to those guys that practice hard every day and compete every day,” Burroughs said. “I think to be a good team, you have to have guys that step up and play, you know, great minutes in times when you don’t think they’ll play great. I thought it was a great time to let those guys keep going and they shared the ball and moved the ball and they were, I think, the reason we won this game.”
Two Sevens players also scored a double-double in the game and they were David Laury III (16 pts & 15 rebounds) and James Webb III (18 pts & 10 rebounds).
Burroughs was not surprised by the performance of James Webb III vs the Nets.
“I think he has been doing what he has been doing for the last, you know, five, six, seven games,” Burroughs said. “He’s a second-unit scorer for us. He’s a guy that we can post up and make plays around the rim. He’s unselfish; he passes the basketball. I think he’s been playing great for us.”
The Sevens head coach also mentioned that David Laury III took advantage of a lot of his opportunities in the game on Friday.
“I think he was just a recipient of the ball moving,” Burroughs said. “When we move the basketball, I tell our guys everyone’s going to have the opportunity to make plays and get shots, but when the ball stops and we play a lot of one-on-one basketball, then we’re in trouble.”
Sevens (9-8) play the Long Island Nets again for the first game of the new year on January 2nd in Brooklyn. Tip off is at 1:30pm.
Player stats:
Stats:
FG%
Sevens: 47%
Nets: 41%
3 Point %
Sevens: 36%
Nets: 41%
Free Throw %
Sevens: 67%
Nets: 81%
Rebounds
Sevens: 54
Nets: 42
Assists:
Sevens: 18
Nets: 17
Turnovers
Sevens: 15
Nets:20
Blocked Shots
Sevens:5
Nets:7