RGV Capsules: Temple helps Vipers cruise past Albuquerque
HIDALGO – Rio Grande Valley Vipers guard Garrett Temple kicked off a furious start for his team by knocking in four of his NBA D-League career-high seven 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Vipers won for the fifth-straight time on Thursday, 135-112, over Albuquerque at Dodge Arena.
The Vipers (5-1) drained a franchise-record 15 (in 24 attempts) 3-pointers in all. Temple finished with 23 points, which tied his D-League best.
“I got a couple of open ones, and I was able to knock them down and after that I felt the goal starting to get bigger,” Temple said. “They left me open a couple of more times, and I knocked those in and was able to carry it over to the second half.”
Mike Harris missed on his two 3-point attempts, but he did score a D-League career-high 32 points. Joey Dorsey recorded his third double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Antonio Anderson (12 points, 12 assists) and Jonathan Wallace (19 points, 11 assists) each recorded their first career double-doubles. Wallace made 4 of his 6 threes.
“It started with defense with guy like Joey (Dorsey) and Mike (Harris) getting the rebounds and getting us guards the ball,” Wallace said. “We weren’t selfish. It was everyone sharing the ball, penetrating and kicking it out to the open man.”
The same teams meet against on Saturday night at Dodge Arena.
As the score would indicate, defense was not a big player on Thursday. The Vipers shot 65.9 percent (56 of 86), while the Thunderbirds connected at a 52.6 percent rate (41 of 78). The Vipers hit 15 of their 20 shots in the first quarter while taking a 38-27 lead.
Six Thunderbirds hit double-figures in scoring, led by Keith McLeod’s 23 points. Kevin Pittsnoggle scored 21 off the bench. Carlos Powell had 17, Yaroslav Korolev 14 and Anthony Dandridge 10.
Getting off to a fast start was a point of emphasis for Vipers head coach Chris Finch as he wanted to take advantage of a team that had played on Wednesday at Austin.
“We got off to a fast start by making shots,” Finch said. “We wanted to focus more on our defense then, but (the Thunderbirds) have a real good offensive team. They have shooters at every position. We were able to match them shot for shot and then we were able to get into a little bit of a defensive rhythm in the second quarter and created a lead.”
The Vipers led 69-52 at halftime, but the Thunderbirds climbed right back in by starting out aggressively in the third quarter. They drew some fouls and found a nice rhythm by hitting some 3-pointers. The Thunderbirds (2-4) cut the Vipers lead to 86-80 following a 3-pointer by Pittsnoggle with at the 4:53 mark.
The Vipers carried a 98-90 lead into the fourth and put the game away by starting out with a 15-6 run to begin the quarter.
“We traded buckets for awhile, but then we settled down and started playing some D,” Harris said. “With a team that likes to run like that, we can trade buckets like that. We were able to get it inside and that opened everything up.”
David Hinojosa covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can also reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via e-mail at dhinojosa@themonitor.com.
Hockey
Bees look to get back on track
McALLEN — The season is more than one-third over, but nobody really knows what to expect from the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees.
One week, they can look like one of the league’s best teams, capable of challenging the CHL-leading Odessa Jackalopes. And the next week they can look like one of the worst, wilting away against Laredo, getting routed by Allen and looking sleepy and lazy against lowly Arizona.
Coach Chris Brooks is also curious to see how they respond tonight when they play host to Corpus Christi (8-10-2). Tonight’s game is the Bees’ first since their winless streak reached five last Saturday. It’s also their lone game in a 12-day stretch, and the first after perhaps their toughest week of practice since Brooks was hired.
"I’m really interested to see how they respond with some time off," Brooks said. "And at the same point, a couple tough practices."
Those tough practices came after the Bees (10-9-2) played seven consecutive poor periods, starting with the third last Wednesday against Laredo. During those periods, the Bees got away from what they want their identity to be. Most battles in the corners were lost. The aggression was all but gone. Any and all one-on-one battles weren’t going their way.
And their view of their last two opponents (Allen and Arizona) might not’ve been helpful, either.
Captain Stacey Bauman said against Allen, which is in second place in the South, that the Bees were "a little bit starstruck." And against Arizona, the Bees might have "kind of let off the gas pedal" because they were expecting two points.
"It doesn’t matter who you’re playing because it’s got to be a full-out hard work ethic," Bauman said. "You can’t ever go in and expect, ‘Oh they’re too good. We can’t beat them,’ or, ‘Ah, we’re going to get these points tonight.’ It’s got to be a battle every night. That mentality… hopefully it shows this weekend."
Mysteriously, that mentality left the Bees after the best month in franchise history. In November, they went 8-3-3 and climbed to third place in the Southern Conference. December has been much different, and at 0-3 much worse.
"We just need to get a few wins and get back on track on the winning ways and start climbing in the standings again," defenseman Jay Hardwick said.
And, of course, make a tough week worthwhile.
"(Corpus Christi) is a good hockey team. There’s a difference between playing well and losing and not playing well and losing," Brooks said. "We’ve just got to come out and play well and give ourselves an opportunity to win every night and do the little things that are a part of our identity that we got away from for two games and a period."
Brian Sandalow covers the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4436 or via e-mail at bsandalow@themonitor.com.
