The Canton Charge overcame their largest deficit of the season in a 112-94 victory over the Texas Legends at the 2014 NBA Development League Showcase in Reno, Nevada on Tuesday afternoon. The win improves Canton's mark to 11-6 overall, while Texas fell to 10-6.
Texas was able to keep pace with Canton's hot shooting early by forcing five turnovers for eight points in the opening period. Trailing 27-25 with 2:38 to play, the Charge came out of the timeout and forced five Legends misses on an 8-0 run to finish the first holding a 33-27 advantage. Gilbert Brown netted 11 points for the Charge in the quarter.
With Canton up 47-36 and 6:16 to play in the half, Texas rolled off a 25-2 run that included limiting the Charge to 1-of-8 shooting and forcing four turnovers to take a 61-49 lead into the break. During that run, the Legends hit eight consecutive shots at one point and 9-of-13 overall. Texas led the turnover battle at the intermission by forcing 11 for 18 points, while surrendering the ball just four times for six points.
After trailing by double-digits and as many as 12 for the first half of the third, Canton began to chip away by cleaning the glass and getting stops on the defensive end. The Charge outrebounded the Legends 15-4 in the quarter and forced misses on seven of their final nine shots to pull within one at 81-80 heading into the game's final frame.
Canton took the lead for good when Robert Hite found Shane Edwards slashing towards the rim for a dunk and the 82-81 lead two possessions into the fourth. Canton outscored Texas 32-13 in the quarter, holding the Legends to just three made field goals total and forcing five turnovers for eight points. Edwards netted 12 points for the Charge, who led by as many as 20 late and hit 11-of-18 shots from the field (61%) as a team in the period.
Brown led Canton with 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 9-of-10 from the foul line with eight assists in 38 minutes. Edwards posted his second double-double in as many days with a season-high 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting with 13 boards and a steal in 37 minutes. Kevin Jones added 16 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes, while Bo Spencer came off the bench to provide 13 points, seven rebounds, six assists and two steals in 31 minutes. The Charge outrebounded the Legends 52-25 on the afternoon, the lowest total for any Canton opponent this season thus far.
Texas was paced by Devin Ebanks' 27 points, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, with six rebounds in 42 minutes. Melvin Ely supplied 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting with five rebounds in 36 minutes. Mickey McConnell scored six points with 10 assists and two steals in 39 minutes. The Legends' bench was outscored 35-13 in the game.
The Charge will next head to Erie for a back-to-back weekend set with the BayHawks beginning Friday, January 10th at 7:00 p.m. Fans can follow all of the action with a YouTube game steam and live game stats on CantonCharge.com.
Fans can stay up-to-date on team news by following the team at: @CantonCharge on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CantonCharge and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/CantonCharge.
