Albuquerque drives past Vipers for victory

HIDALGO - To borrow from rapper T.I., who was just in town for a concert, big things were poppin' Saturday night at Dodge Arena. Unfortunately for the Vipers, it was the Albuquerque Thunderbirds who played like the "Kings of the South" (or Southwest as the case may be).

In two previous meetings with Albuquerque, the Vipers literally ran them off the court. That definitely wasn't the case Saturday night as Albuquerque steered its way to a 116-105 victory at Dodge Arena.

"We showed a lack mental preparedness, maturity and composure," Vipers coach Clay Moser said. "(The team's inconsistency) is something my staff and I talk about every single day. How do we get this out of this guy and how do we get to the point where we're not pulling strings every night on the bench deciding who wants to play and who doesn't want to play."

The Vipers (7-9) had their way with Albuquerque during a 108-96 win Friday night as well as during their 122-99 rout of the T-Birds on Dec. 14. But Albuquerque (3-10) sent notice from the start that Saturday's game was going to be different. Much different, in fact as point guard Will Conroy, the NBA Development League's leading scorer, had a game-high 25 points and 10 assists. David Monds added 21 points and 13 rebounds and David Noel 21 points and 11 boards as the Thunderbirds dominated the boards 47-31 ad scored 23 second-chance points.

Albuquerque led 32-27 after one quarter, then extended its advantage to 61-47 by halftime.

Instead of chipping away at the Thunderbirds' lead, the Vipers opened the third quarter by allowing Albuquerque to go on a 16-8 run as Monds, Conroy and Underwood seized control to essentially put the game out of reach.

"We tried to stay positive today. I think the guys took it upon themselves to play together and play hard and stick with the game plan," Albuquerque coach John Coffino said. "The game plan was to take the fight to them and not wait for them to take it to us. (Friday) night they kicked our butts and we had no resistance."

Smush Parker led the Vipers with 18 points, while Alton Ford had 15 points and six rebounds in 26 foul-plagued minutes. NBA assignment player Joey Dorsey was limited to 11 points and six rebounds as, like Ford, he was hampered by fouls. Dorsey played 27 minutes.

IN THE BONUS: The Vipers next play in the D-League Showcase in Orem, Utah. They face Reno on Monday then battle Sioux Falls on Wednesday. The Vipers' next home game is Jan. 14 vs. Colorado.

Todd Mavreles covers the Rio Grande Valley Vipers for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4451.