Trey Burke has been on a scoring rampage recently, adding 27 or more points in three consecutive games. This game followed that trend. Isaiah Hicks continued to be a problem for opposing defenses. The two-way player posted his fifth double-double (24 points and 10 rebounds) of the season in 33 minutes of action.
The final quarter was a nail-biter. Texas led by seven points, but the Knicks held their own in the final stages of the fourth quarter. The team picked up steam late in the quarter when Luke Kornet grabbed an offensive board and dished the ball out to Rathan-Mayes for a key three-point field goal.
On the next possession, Hicks grabbed the rebound and put up a lay up, leading to a Legends’ timeout. The Knicks showed great composure down the stretch and Westchester head coach Mike Miller praised following the team’s 10th victory of the season.
“I told them the composure that we showed [when] we got behind, and even at the end, when we had to make different kinds of plays,” Miller said. “Nigel [Hayes] making the long outlet pass to Luke [Kornet] got us down the floor. Executing the out of bounds play. The defensive coverages to stay in there. I thought we showed great composure down the stretch and I was very pleased with that.”
The bench of the Dub Knicks played a crucial role in the team’s success against the Legends. With Jordan Henriquez out due to an illness, Adam Woodbury gave the squad another big off the bench. While he hasn’t seen much playing time this season, Woodbury made the most of 11 minutes when he scored six points and four rebounds.
Paul Watson gave Westchester a scoring boost off the bench. The Fresno State product hit back-to-back three pointers to start the second quarter and gave the team a double digit point lead at the time. He finished the game with 11 points.
“Our bench was really big for us in the first half,” Coach Miller stated. “Isaiah [Hicks] got in some foul trouble. We were trying to rest guys. We knew that Texas plays with great pace and they were going to continue to go at us. We started playing at that pace and we were a little concerned about sustaining it. The fact that our bench came in and was as productive — not only just with the plays, but also with numbers — it took everything that we had on our side tonight making some plays to finish that one.”
The Legends posed a great threat to the home team. Kyle Collinsworth displayed his prowess on the perimeter as he knocked down three of his four three pointers. The Knicks had trouble containing Jameel Warney inside.
“At times, we were very conscious of their scorers,” Miller said. “They’re an outstanding scoring team. I think a few times we lost [Kyle] Collinsworth and he shot the ball really well from three in that corner. We probably helped more than we need to at that time, but we were very conscious of trying to help [Justin] Denton and the drives with Donald Sloan, so that was part of it.
“[Jameel] Warney is a handful,” Miller continued. “He played on the Team USA group that has won the first two qualifying rounds. He is a highly efficient player. He’s very difficult to defend, so when he gets deep position, he knows how to hold it. He knows how to finish and I think we got too deep sometimes and it allowed him to get back to his go to moves. He scored the ball pretty consistently. When he didn’t, we had a hard time keeping him out. He had five offensive rebounds as well. He had 30 [points] and 11 [rebounds].
Westchester became the fifth G League team to reach the 10 win mark. The Knicks have a tough challenge ahead, as the team will play four games in seven days on the west coast. The group will face two teams (South Bay Lakers and Santa Cruz Warriors) that have won 10 games as well this season.
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