Photo: Armando Bacot of the Memphis Hustle scores two of his career-high 35 points in Wednesday’s 129-112 victory over the Mexico City Capitanes at the Landers Center. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Wednesday’s Memphis Hustle game against the Mexico City Capitanes featured several things not normally seen in a Hustle game at the Landers Center.
For one thing, how about 6,751 screaming school youngsters taking in the game for the team’s second Education Game promotion? Balcony seats were used for the first time this year to get them all into the arena.
How about a shot clock malfunction? As in, one of the shot clocks above the basket inexplicably quit operating and after about a 20 minute delay portable shot clocks were brought in, hooked up and stood on the floor of the remaining quarter and a half of the contest.
Nate Hinton of the Hustle scored 16 points and added 10 rebounds in the Hustle victory.
Then, there’s the matter of Hustle forward Armando Bacot, whose career-high 35 points led a second half recovery to a 129-112 victory over the Capitanes. Bacot added 14 rebounds for a double-double.
Hustle coach T.C. Swirsky said it’s been just a matter of time for his 6-11 forward/center from North Carolina.
“I told him, ‘there’s going to be a game where things click for you, both offensively, defensively,’” Swirsky said. “He got in a little bit of early foul trouble so it was tough to get him in a rhythm, but that second half, he carried us. He put the team on his back, and it did click tonight.”
Bacot carrying the Hustle was needed, because the home team trailed through the first half and into the second. Mexico City led 68-56 at halftime, a half that included a 15-point lead.
Juan Toscano-Anderson led the charge for Mexico City, leading Capitanes in scoring through most of the contest and ended with 28 points. Greg Brown III supported Toscano-Anderson with 24 points for the game.
The shot clock that malfunctioned in the third quarter of Wednesday’s Hustle-Mexico City game.
Mexico City held the lead and seemed to be in control until the shot clock malfunction took place with 7:27 remaining in the third quarter. Efforts to revive the non-functioning shot clock were made but failed and Plan B meant shot clocks were placed at each end of the floor. They stayed there for the rest of the contest.
But the delay seemed to reinvigorate the Hustle, who fashioned a 23-5 finish to take a 93-86 lead into the fourth quarter of play. Memphis scored 21 unanswered in the quarter and led by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter.
Swirsky thought his team’s intensity picked up in the second half.
“Sometimes in these day games, you can have a tendency to start off a little slow and have low energy,” Swirsky said. “I kind of got on the guys there at halftime and really challenged them to be better on the defensive end and we started getting stops.”
DJ Steward provided a triple-double in the win for the Hustle with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. Nate Hinton added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Mexico City, now fourth in the Western Conference, dropped to 11-8 with the loss, while the Hustle are tied for seventh. The teams play once more toward the end of the season on Saturday, March 29, a noon start at the Landers Center. The Capitanes took two of three from the Hustle during the Pre-Season Tip-Off Tournament.
The Hustle will return from the All-Star Break with a matchup against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on Thursday, Feb. 20, at 7 p.m. inside the Landers Center.
