CTSY-Maine Celtics
PORTLAND, ME – After heading into halftime with a four-point advantage, the Maine Celtics outscored the Cleveland Charge 61-45 in the second half to earn a 108-88 victory, only the second time holding an opponent under 90 points this season.
DJ Steward led Maine (6-6) with 25 points, five rebounds and six assists, shooting 10-17 from the floor and 5-9 from deep. JD Davison added 22 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Drew Peterson tallied 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists. James Banks III notched 12 points and eight rebounds while Jordan Walsh turned in 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Sharife Cooper paced Cleveland (5-7) with 22 points, six rebounds and five assists. Zhaire Smith finished with 19 points and Justin Powell scored 16. Aleem Ford logged 12 and six rebounds and Gabe Osabuohien contributed 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
After turnovers on the first three possessions of the game, Banks flipped in a hook shot to get the night off and running. Maine’s scoring was evenly distributed through the first while Smith scored six of Cleveland’s first eight leading into a timeout, at which point the Celtics led 12-8. The inside-out game powered the Celtics early; the ball hit the paint frequently, creating passing lanes for kick-outs to open shooters. The Celtics forced the Charge to go 0-8 from deep in the first quarter while Smith and Cooper combined for 14, and Banks put up eight to lead Maine to a 27-20 lead through 12 minutes.
Olin Carter III went on a solo 5-0 run to open the second, then Davison countered with a 1-for-2 and an off-balance three for a solo 5-0 run of his own. The Celtics lead extended to double digits early in the frame, and after a response from Powell, Carey Jr. hit his second three of the night to make it an 11-point game. Davison became the first Celtic to reach double figures in scoring, with Banks and Steward joining soon after as the Celtics led 45-37 late in the quarter. Though Cleveland’s deficit oscillated between seven and 10 for most of the half, a 6-2 run into the locker room trimmed Maine’s at the half lead to four, 47-43.
The Charge opened the third quarter on a 9-2 run, giving them a 57-55 lead and building their overall run to 15-4 spanning the late-second and early-third. From that point onward, it was all Celtics; Maine regained the lead with a Peterson three and never relinquished it for the rest of the night. All the momentum tilted towards Maine when Davison took over in the closing seconds of the third – eight unanswered points from the second-year guard, capped off by a buzzer-beating baseline jumper handed Maine an 11-point lead, 83-72 heading into the fourth.
Maine took complete control of the game following Davison’s late-quarter takeover, and Walsh’s corner three just inside the nine-minute mark pushed the lead to 93-76. The Celtics made their run to open the final frame, but Cleveland was unable to respond in kind, with Maine keeping its lead near 20 points during crunch time. Steward poured it on when it counted, scoring 10 points in a decisive fourth quarter and helping the Celtics coast to a bounce-back win.
Maine completes a seven-game homestand with the second game of a back-to-back tomorrow evening against the Charge. The Celtics are in Mississauga, Ontario for a back-to-back with Raptors 905 on Jan. 30 and 31 before returning home for a Feb. 2 matchup with the Grand Rapids Gold.
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