COLLEGE PARK – Coming off back-to-back wins in the Motor City, Coach Bakker and the Cruise were looking to win their third straight game for the first time this season (Winter Showcase and Regular Season). The Cruise traveled to College Park to begin another road trip and took on the Skyhawks. After a back-and-forth nail-bitter, the Motor City Cruise obtained their third straight win in front of a sold-out crowd against them with a score of 124-120.
The game was close from the beginning after the Cruise led by just two in the first quarter (30-28). The second quarter would be another back-and-forth contest but ended in the Skyhawks favor. The Skyhawks would score just one point over the Cruise (31-30) in the second. However, the Cruise still had the lead going into the half with a score of 60-59. Heading into the second half, the Cruise won the third quarter 31-27. No team still to this point was able to find a big run to put the other away until heading into the fourth. The Cruise would finally achieve their biggest lead of the game in the fourth quarter. After Jaime Echenique made a cutting layup with 8:52 to go in regulation, the Cruise now had an eight-point lead (104-99). The Skyhawks would battle back after the Cruise obtained their biggest lead in the game, cutting the lead down to one with 3:03 to go in regulation. With Motor City leading 121-120, Keifer Sykes would hit a clutch step back to give the Cruise a three-point lead (123-120) with 2:12 to go. The Skyhawks would foul Devontae Cacok and send him to the free-throw line. Cacok made one for two of his free throws to put the game away.
Devontae Cacok led the way for the Cruise in tonight’s game with 23 points. He secured his secured his fourth double-double of the regular season after grabbing 10 rebounds with his 23 points scored. Cacok shot 10-18 from the floor in tonight’s game. Jared Rhoden followed up with 18 points against his former team and shot 7-12 from the floor (2-5 beyond the arc). David Nwaba secured his fourth double-double of the season, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the win. Lastly for the Cruise, Buddy Boeheim shot 3-6 beyond the arc after going 3-5 in the third quarter alone.
Tyrese Martin had a tremendous night offensively, dropping 32 points for the College Park Skyhawks. 10 of his points came in the first quarter alone. Chris Silva followed up with 22 points. Kyler Edwards’s former college teammate, Armoni Brooks came off the bench and scored 21 points. Both Silva and Brooks shot 7-13 from the floor in tonight’s game. Brooks shot 5-10 from beyond the arc. Trent Forrest secured a double-double in tonight’s game, scoring 17 points and tallying 12 assists. His 12 assists gave him a G League career high.
The Motor City Cruise improved to 5-8 and the College Park Skyhawks fell to 5-7. Both teams will be back in action at the Gateway Center arena on January 29th. Tip-off is slated for 3:00pm EST.
