FOURTH QUARTER IGNITE LEADS VIPERS TO VICTORY

Edinburg, Texas. (Jan. 20, 2023) – The Rio Grande Valley Vipers (4-6), the NBA G League affiliate of the Houston Rockets, defeated the NBA G League Ignite (5-7) 110-107 on Friday night at Bert Ogden Arena.

RGV opened the game with the first basket. After that, the Vipers took the lead of the game and led by as many as seven points. Ignite then went on a three-point run and tied the game 19-19 with 6:14 to go. The Vipers then had the lead until there was 1:09 remaining on the clock. That was when Ignite tied the game once again, 33-33. Ignite then took its first lead of the game and closed the quarter with a score of 36-35. 

Ignite took off with its lead in the second quarter and maintained it until the Vipers tied the game 48-48 with 6:49 to go. The visiting team then took off with another lead, but the Vipers put a stop to the team and tied the quarter 54-54. The visiting team then went on to score 14 points while only allowing the Vipers to score four points which resulted in a 68-58 advantage for Ignite. 

In the third quarter the Vipers came close to taking the lead away from Ignite as the team trailed by as little as one point. At the end of the third Ignite still led 90-86.

During the fourth quarter Ignite led for the majority of the quarter until RGV quickly turned things around. With 46.9 seconds to go the Vipers were down 106-107, but a pass from Josh Reaves to Willie Cauley-Stein led to the Vipers scoring the leading basket which resulted in a score of 108-107 in favor of the home team. After that, RGV went on to score two more points and closed the game with a 110-107 victory.

Houston Rockets Two-Way players Trevor Hudgins led all scorers with 29 points and Darius Days obtained a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Jalen Lecque contributed 18 points followed by Cauley-Stein with 13 points. Reaves came off the bench and scored 12 points. Trhae Mitchell put up 10 rebounds. 

John Jenkins led the Ignite with 27 points followed by Cameron Young who had 20 points. Eric Mika had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Both Sidy Cissoko and Marcus Graves finished the night with 11 points each.

The Vipers return to the court tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the G League Ignite at Bert Ogden Arena. For more information visit www.rgvipers.com.