Late 3-pointer carries Legends past Toros
CEDAR PARK — The Austin Toros erased a 20-point third-quarter deficit only to lose on a 3-pointer in the waning seconds by Darius Rice as the Texas Legends took a 105-102 victory in an NBA D-League game Sunday afternoon at Cedar Park Center.
The Toros (7-7) have dropped four of their last five games. The Legends improved to 9-5.
Austin had the ball and was trailing 102-101 with 39 seconds left. After a mad scramble under the basket, Patrick Sullivan was fouled. Legends coach Eduardo Najera argued the call and was assessed a technical foul.
Corey Joseph made the technical free throw to tie the game, but Sullivan missed both of his free throws. Then Rice sank a trey with 3 seconds left.
“We probably got put into a rotation situation there, but that’s one where our guy contested it,” Toros coach Taylor Jenkins said. “You live with it and have a chance to tie the game on the other end. But that play does not speak to what the game was, in my opinion.”
The Toros turned the ball over 13 times in the first half and fell behind 5144 at intermission.
“Our second quarter had no life,” Jenkins said. “We just got off the road, but still, I was disappointed with our effort. When we’re down 20, that’s when we respond, instead of trying to be up 20.”
Jamarr Sanders’ soaring dunk with 8:37 left in the fourth quarter cut the Legends’ lead to 89-80. Sanders and Tre Kelley combined for 23 fourthquarter points to spearhead the comeback.
“We don’t have any quit in us,” Sanders said. “But by the same token, we’d rather play like we did at the end for a full 48 minutes.”
Kelley and Sanders led the Toros in scoring with 26 and 21 points, respectively. Joseph had 12 points as six Austin players finished in double digits.
“The comeback started on the defensive end, and we kind of let it lead to our offense,” Kelley said. “As far as my individual game, I just had a little rhythm that I haven’t had in a while.”
The Toros’ leading scorer, Justin Dentmon, missed his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Next up for the Toros’ will be the Idaho Stampede at 1 p.m. Thursday at home.