Growing pains continue as Ignite lose nail-biter to Hustle

Growing pains continued Thursday night as a five-second violation late in regulation burned the NBA G League Ignite coming out of the All-Star break.

In a trip to Memphis, the Ignite were upended by the Hustle, 116-114, Thursday, Feb. 23 from the Landers Center. The contest marked the first game in 12 days for this year’s developmental team.

It also marked the first of a back-to-back against first-place Memphis. The latter part of the back-to-back will conclude a six-game road trip that began at the start of this month for the Ignite.

The trip will conclude Friday, Feb. 24 with tip-off slated for 5 p.m.

The team is now 7-12 overall this year.

With 11.1 seconds left in regulation, Ignite guard Scoot Henderson was whistled for a five-second inbounds violation with the team down three points. That brought the game closer to a crushing end following a valiant effort that saw the team climb back from nearly 20 points down.

The Ignite led by six points with just under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter in addition to holding a one-point lead with less than two minutes left.

In fact, the Ignite went into the fourth quarter up five points after a 35-20 outing in the third quarter. This year’s team is now 7-5 when leading after the third quarter.

Midway through the third quarter, the Ignite led by as many as seven points after trailing by 18 points to the Hustle in the second quarter. The comeback effort started right out of the halftime break.

Ultimately, it was a reverse layup from forward Leonard Miller tied the game at 78 apiece.

Miller recorded his fourth straight double-double with 18 points and 14 rebounds on 8-of-16 from the field.

Henderson also tallied a double-double with 20 points and 14 assists to go along with seven rebounds and three blocks.

Henderson was playing in his first game since Feb. 4 after missing time due to tweaking his ankle. He opened the game with 6’9” Ziaire Williams defending him and proceeded to open the game 3-for-3 from the field. By the final buzzer, his shooting numbers were 9-of-16 from the floor.

Guard Sidy Cissoko led the team in scoring with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting including a 5-for-9-mark from three-point range.

Fellow guard John Jenkins added 18 points on 7-of-16 from the field including three made threes.