Skyforce on Verge of History with Overtime Win at Delaware

The road to this one took a couple extra miles, but Sioux Falls will take the win nonetheless 99-93 over Delaware in overtime Friday night.

With the victory, the Skyforce ties the NBADL single season record for wins at 38 against 8 losses with four to play. For the 87ers (19-27), it was a chance to make another significant mark this week on the heels of Wednesday night’s 65-point performance by guard Russ Smith.

As fate would have it, Smith did not play in Friday night’s game which allowed other 87ers to emerge. The coming out party took a while to develop as the Skyforce steadily built a 20-point bulge in the third quarter.

Delaware was able to whittle the lead to 13 entering the fourth quarter. Nine Skyforce turnovers in the final 12 minutes plus the home team’s ability to capture a few 50/50 balls further closed the gap.

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As the clock wound down in regulation, Delaware needed three points to tie. The inbounds play was executed to perfection as Rodney Carney came off a screen and let fly from about 30 feet and found the bottom with 4 seconds left.

Momentum gained by Delaware in the fourth was not maintained as the extra session began with a Briante Weber pull-up jumper within the first five seconds. Delaware responded with a bomb from downtown by Ty Greene to take their first lead since early in the ballgame.

From there Sioux Falls gained control with Jarnell Stokes hitting a couple buckets plus one from long distance by DeAndre Liggins. A suffocating double-team in the Delaware half court led to a steal by Greg Whittington and a feed to Weber to essentially put the game away.

Stokes finished with 23 points as the game’s high scorer with Whittington following up with 23 points and 8 boards. Two double-doubles came from the Force’s DeAndre Liggins (12 points, 10 assists) and Keith Benson (10 points, 10 rebounds).

For the Sevens, Carney piled up 22 points and Greene finished with 20. Christian Wood also had a big night scoring 19 and securing 10 rebounds. One more game remains between these two teams with an afternoon contest on Saturday.

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