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South Bay Lakers guard Scotty Pippen Jr. hit the game-winning shot in overtime to give South Bay the 115-113 win over the G-League Ignite Tuesday, Dec. 6 from The Dollar Loan Center.
Pippen Jr. finished his night with 27 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
It was the possession before that had a lot of Ignite fans, as well as the team, scratching their heads as to what exactly happened.
Before South Bay’s final possession, the Ignite had the ball with the game tied at 113 and a chance to win the game with a made basket. During the possession, a shot clock violation was called with nine still showing on the shot clock. Referees explained it as the shot clock not being set properly for overtime rules.
The Ignite was assessed the turnover while South Bay was awarded possession, moments before the clutch basket from Pippen Jr.
Head coach Jason Hart and Ignite players elected not to do media postgame.
With the loss, the G-League Ignite have now lost seven games in a row and sit at 3-11 on the year.
South Bay has beaten the Ignite in each of the three games played so far this season, clinching the season series for South Bay. The next time these teams will face each other is Feb. 4 in El Segundo, CA at the UCLA Health Training Center.
For now, the Ignite will wrap up their four-game homestand on Sunday, Dec. 11 as they host the Stockton Kings. Tip-off is set for 5:00 p.m. The last time these two teams played was back on Nov. 30 where Stockton won 113-111.
The Ignite led by as much as 14 in the second half, but a combination of the Lakers going on a 21-6 run to close out the third quarter while the Ignite going scoreless for 6:40 ultimately pulled the visitors back in the game.
Even with that massive run and scoring drought, the Ignite found themselves with chance after chance to capitalize and could not make South Bay pay for mistakes. The Lakers went 14-for-23 from the free throw line with a lot of those misses coming in the fourth quarter.
The mistakes piled up for the Ignite as they committed 25 turnovers, making it the second straight game where the Ignite have turned the ball over 25 or more times in a game. This is also the fourth straight game where the Ignite have lost the turnover battle.
Guard Cameron Young led the Ignite in scoring, finishing his night with 29 points, eight rebounds and two assists. He led the way in scoring for the Ignite in the first half with 15 points.
Forward Leonard Miller also chipped in 23 points and nine rebounds.
For the second straight game, an Ignite player was ejected.
On Sunday, it was guard Pooh Jeter who found the early exit after an altercation with a few South Bay players at the end of the third quarter. In this one, it was forward Babacar Sane, who was ejected at the end of the first quarter after tossing the ball into the stands.
Tuesday’s game was the first game back for guard Marcus Graves since becoming a father earlier this week. Graves generated some momentum when he hit a buzzer-beating layup to send the Ignite into halftime with a 60-52 lead.
These were the only two points that Graves had in this one as he finished with two points and one rebound in his return.