Vipers build lead, hang on to beat Mad Ants

HIDALGO — The Rio Grande Valley Vipers were outscored in three quarters. Luckily for them, they held an 18-point lead after the first one and that was enough to carry them to a 104-97 victory on Wednesday at State Farm Arena.

The Vipers (16-9) led 30-12 after the first quarter and extended it to as much as 23 in the first half before the Mad Ants (9-15) made it a game in the fourth quarter by closing to within four points at the 2:55 mark. The Vipers answered with an 8-0 run, and they secured their fifth-straight win, a season-best.

“They came back and played hard and fought,” said Vipers center Greg Smith, who had 17 points and 13 rebounds. That’s what good teams to. We tried to keep our composure and play hard for 48 minutes. We stayed into it. We kept the lead. At the end of the game, we showed up.”

The Vipers built their early lead with some strong 3-point shooting, by dominated the boards. They limited the Mad Ants’ second chances as the Vipers had 19 defensive rebounds compared to zero offensive rebounds for Fort Wayne in the first half. The Vipers also made 9 of 17 3-pointers in the first half.

“We showed some flashes of playing some pretty impressive basketball to start,” Vipers coach Nick Nurse said. “We were excited to play at home, and we got out of the gate, and then it into complacency mode. Our 3-point shooting really carried us tonight.”

The Vipers had played their last six games on the road. They won’t return to State Farm Arena again until Feb. 10. Until then, the Vipers have back-to-back road swings at Texas, Austin and Idaho.

Guard Kelvin Lewis led all scorers with 22 points. He was 5 of 6 from the 3-point arc. The Vipers made 14 of 28 3-pointers total. Guard Lee Humphrey had 14 points and made 4 of 7 from the arc.

“Fort Wayne is a good team,” Lewis said. “They didn’t have it early, but they picked it up late, and we sustained their run at the end.”

Point guard Will Conroy, a member of the RGV’s championship team two seasons ago, made his sVipers season debut. He had four assists in his first five minutes and finished with eight assists. He scored 1 point and took four shots.

“I really didn’t want to take any shots tonight,” said Conroy, who last played a game in the Turkish League last May. “I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes and get everybody the ball. I’m not really here for stats right now. I’m just trying to get back in shape and get everyone going.”

The Mad Ants were led by Gilbert Brown’s 15 points. Sean Sonderleiter had 14 points.

David Hinojosa covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442 or via email at dhinojosa@themonitor.com