South Bay Stifle Clippers Buzz

The South Bay Lakers played in their fifth NBA G League regular season game against the Ontario Clippers as they won 120-115, on Monday night. Colin Castleton, Shaq Harrison, and Jalen Hood-Schifino led the Lakers (3-2), in scoring with 20 points each. Jordan Miller paced the Clippers (2-3), scoring 25 points.

The first quarter started very competitive with both teams trading buckets. As the frame continued, South Bay’s multiple missed transition opportunities coupled with Ontario’s five first quarter three’s enabled the Clippers to jump out to a double digit lead. Two-way player Colin Castleton led the Lakers with eight points, four rebounds and two steals in the first. Ontario guard Josh Primo put up 13 in the period. South Bay trailed 19-32 after one.

South Bay battled back for much on the second period, stringing together defensive stops and finding an offensive rhythm. The Lakers cut the Clipper lead down to six with three minutes remaining in the period. South Bay continued to surge to close the half, as a three-point play from Jalen Hood-Schifino saw the deficit trimmed to just one going into the half.

South Bay took the lead with eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, their first since they were up 10- 9. The remainder of the period was back and forth and continued to be a very tight contest. In the end, South Bay took a one-point lead into the final frame, 79-78. Hood-Schifino and Louis King both put up six points for the Lakers in the period.

Eight points from Quinndary Weatherspoon in the first six minutes of the quarter helped give South Bay a five-point cushion. From there the Lakers would never relinquish the lead and go on to complete the comeback by a final score of, 120-115.

Castleton put together a final line of 20 points, a career-high 16 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks in 32 minutes. Hood-Schifino added 20 points and seven assists while Shaq Harrison added 20 of his own to go along with three rebounds, five assists and three steals. For the Clippers, Jordan Miller scored 25 points and grabbed five boards while Joshua Primo put up 24 points, grabbed five boards and dished out four assists.

South Bay will hit the road for a matchup against the Santa Cruz Warriors on Saturday, Jan. 13 at 7:00pm from the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, California.