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A scoop shot from guard Scoot Henderson saved the day for the NBA G League Ignite as the team picked up its first road win of the year.
The Ignite beat the Birmingham Squadron, 126-124, Sunday, Jan. 1 from the Legacy Arena in the team’s first road trip of the regular season. Prior to the showcase, the Ignite were 2-6 away from The Dollar Loan Center.
Now, this year’s developmental team is 2-1 in the regular season with one more to complete in Birmingham. The backend of back-to-back games against the Squadron will be played Tuesday, Jan. 3 from the Legacy Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m.
Henderson shook off a bad outing in the team’s last game to score 20 points and the game-winning basket for the team with 4.5 seconds left in regulation.
The thrilling victory came in comeback fashion as the Ignite were down by as many as 12 points in the first quarter. In fact, Birmingham opened the game with a 12-2 advantage.
Those two points for the Ignite were scored by Henderson after he was held scoreless through the first three quarters of the team’s last contest.
In the second quarter was when the Ignite made their climb back into this one, opening the frame with a 5-0 run, 7-0 dating back to the end of the first quarter.
The Ignite lead grew to as large as seven points in that second quarter behind a 23-9 start to the 12-minute session. Eventually, the Ignite won the quarter by 10 to take a five-point lead into halftime.
In that first half, the Ignite tallied 18 total assists on 24 made field goals on the way to 32 helpers on 45 total made field goals by the end of the game. Henderson led the team with seven assists to go along with his 20 points.
Veteran guard John Jenkins led the team in scoring with a season-high 37 points with 11 made three-pointers. In fact, he didn’t miss from the field for the first time until the 8:42-mark of the second quarter.
He started the game 4-of-4 from the field with 11 points. Furthermore, he lit the Squadron up for 20 points in the second quarter on 7-of-8 shooting.
Early in the fourth quarter he cashed in on his 10th three-pointer. Moments later, he drained his 11th. At one point, Jenkins was 9-of-13 from downtown after entering the game three for his last 13 attempts from deep.
Guard Aubrey Dawkins scored 20 points off-the-bench including four made threes on 7-of-9 from the floor.
As a team, the Ignite shot 18-for-33 from three-point range. Birmingham shot well from deep as well, knocking down 14 of its 30 three-point attempts.
Center Eric Mika posted a monster double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists.
The Ignite played without forward Leonard Miller as he nursed a sore lower back as well as guard Cameron Young, who’s dealing with a sprained right wrist.