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Stampede avenge loss to D-Fenders
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If you were at Qwest Arena on Saturday night to watch the Idaho Stampede play you may of noticed something a little different. Instead of wearing their traditional red and white jerseys the Stampede mixed things up.
In support of one of its NBA affiliate franchises the team donned green Seattle Supersonics jerseys and went on to beat the Los Angeles D-Fenders 83-71.
“There is no doubt we played hard tonight and we deserved to win,” Stampede guard Ronell Taylor said about Saturday’s win. “We played more like a team tonight then we have the last couple of nights.”
Idaho was led by big man Jeff Graves (18 points) and Luke Jackson (14 points). The win put an end to the Stampede’s two-game skid. Idaho shot 32 percent from the field and averaged 19 turnovers in losses to the Austin Toros Wednesday night, 101-84, and the D-Fenders Friday night, 94-83.
The Stampede is just 2-2 in ten days’ time on its home floor and that is a concern for Head Coach Bryan Gates.
“We weren’t playing like we did when we were streaking,” Gates said. “We didn’t play our blend of basketball and that hurt us.”
Idaho never trailed through three quarters against the D-Fenders Friday night, but a colossal collapse in the fourth quarter doomed the Stampede.
Idaho led by as many 14 points but let the game slip away as Los Angeles launched a 38-12 run in the last 14 minutes of regulation.
“We tried to get back into the game by trying to make home run plays but that’s not the way we play our game,” Ronell Taylor said after the loss. “We like to take our time and set up good plays but they [Los Angeles] took us out of our game and it paid off.”
The Stampede scored a season low in points (83) and tied a season high in turnovers with 19. With the loss Idaho fell one and a half games behind Colorado for the division lead.
Had the Stampede defeated the Austin Toros Wednesday night they would have maintained the best record in the West.
By doing so, Coach Gates would have been selected as the West’s All-Star coach for next weekend’s All-Star Weekend game in Las Vegas. But with only three wins out of their last four after winning 11 straight the Colorado 14ers Joe Wolf has been selected to coach the West.
The Stampede (17-10 overall, 13-5 conference) hit the road next week with games Tuesday night, Feb. 6, and Friday night, Feb. 9 against Tulsa (12-14 overall).
TATE CASTLETON
Sports Writer