James Mays scored 25 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Armor in their 95-85 loss on the road.
The Springfield Armor's (44) James Mays, seen here in a Dec. 2 game in Springfield, scored 25 points Saturday but it was not enough in Springfield's 95-85 loss in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
By DEAN JACKSON
FORT WAYNE, Indiana - Springfield Armor coach Bob MacKinnon joked that his third-quarter timeout and technical wasn’t something he’d be wise to share.
“Nothing can be repeated,” he laughed. “We talked about taking control of what you can control. Don’t worry about the other team.”
The terms and phrasing wouldn’t exactly win fans in the league office. Everyone of the 3,625 fans at Fort Wayne’s Memorial Allen County War Coliseum wouldn’t have any trouble guessing.
MacKinnon laughed at his discretion, the situation wasn’t funny. They need a change, and they got it, albeit temporary.
Springfield was down by two at halftime, 47-45. In the third quarter, Springfield outscored Fort Wayne 27-20 to take a 72-67 lead.
But a third-quarter comeback wasn’t enough as Springfield dropped a 95-85 decision to Fort Wayne on Saturday in the NBA Development League.
The loss drops the Armor 2½ games behind East Division leader Maine. It also extends the Springfield skid to three loses.
James Mays scored 25 points and 21 rebounds to lead the Armor. MacKinnon praised Mays performance Saturday and so far this season.
“People should be looking at James Mays,” MacKinnon said. “21 rebounds is pretty good by my estimation. He’s pretty good in there. Hopefully things will start going his way.”
Fort Wayne’s Miles Plumlee, a 2012 first-round draft pick for Indiana,, scored 28 points and added 10 rebounds.
The Armor went on a 12-0 run over the final 2:59 of the third quarter to erase a 67-60 advantage, and build a 72-67 lead. Fort Wayne would finish with a 23-18 fourth quarter to post the victory
Springfield finished with 34 percent field goal shooting (33-of-97) and just 1-of-12 from three-point range. The Armor added 72 percent from the line (18-of-25)
Fort Wayne connected on 37 percent of its shots from the field (35-95) and hit 69 percent of its (22-of-32) free-throws
“We were getting stops, and we mad them shoot a low-percentage,” MacKinnon said. “Our guys are tough guys and they are just a step off. Hopefully we’ll get Carleton Scott back. He’s a big part of it. If we get him back a lot of things change.”
“You are going up against five players, all five Fort Wayne starters played in the NBA. It helps when you got a player of Carleton’s caliber in there.”
In the fourth quarter, Springfield could pull no closer than 85-82 with 3:11 remaining as Willie Reed scored on a reverse layup to make it 85-82.