Stars cruise past Blue for 10th straight victory
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — The Salt Lake City Stars, the official NBA G League affiliate of the Utah Jazz, extended their club-long (Salt Lake City era) win streak to 10 games after defeating the Oklahoma City Blue 106-87 on Friday night at Cox Convention Center.
The Stars were led by Utah Jazz two-way player Justin Wright-Foreman, who finished with a game-high 24 points in just over 24 minutes of play. Mike Scott tallied 17 points, five assists and three rebounds off the bench, while William Howard posted 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. Trevon Bluiett chipped in 16 points and Jazz two-way player Jarrell Brantley added 10 points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
The Blue were led by Oklahoma City Thunder assignment player Deonte Burton, who finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds to nab his second consecutive double-double. Justin Patton tallied 14 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, while Abdul Gaddy dished out a game-high 15 assists. Kadeem Jack added 15 points on 7-of-9 (.778) from the field to go with five rebounds and three blocks off the bench.
Oklahoma City came out of the gate hot, taking a 12-point lead with 3:41 left in the first quarter, but Salt Lake City closed the period on a 12-2 run to shorten the Blue's lead to just two points (25-23). The second period saw all three of the game's lead changes and only tie, as the Stars outscored the Blue 33-18 in the frame to take a 13-point advantage (56-43) at intermission.
The Stars held their lead through the final two periods as they outscored the blue 50-44 in the second half. Howard tallied all 14 of his points in the final 24 minutes and Scott notched 11 of his 17 points in the last half to help secure Salt Lake City's 19-point victory.
The Stars held the advantage in turnovers (16-20), steals (14-10), three-pointers (13-10) and bench points (39-30), while the Blue grabbed more rebounds (45-41), tallied more points in the paint (46-32), dished out more assists (25-20) and blocked more shots (11-3).
Salt Lake City will head to Northern Arizona to matchup against the Suns on Tuesday, Dec. 17. The game, which tips off at 6:30 p.m. (MT), will stream live on NBAGLeague.com.