College Article Feature: Stars Hit Back at Clippers in Overtime

Written by Will Naughton | Weber State University

After three successive defeats in the NBA G League, the Salt Lake City Stars got back on track with a 128-120 overtime home victory against the San Diego Clippers at the Maverik Center on Feb. 4. The win, led by guard Sean East II’s 27 points, saw them improve to 7-12 on the regular season and means they rank 11th in the Western Conference.

SLC exploded out of the gate in the opening period as forward Matthew Cleveland knocked down seven points and East II and Dereon Seabron added six each en route to a 32-27 lead at the break. San Diego center Patrick Baldwin Jr. kept the Clippers afloat with 12 points of his own, but ultimately could not offset the home side’s free-flowing offensive play.

The visitors (8-11) fought back and managed to equalize on the scoreboard with 7:42 left in the second quarter when forward Taylor Funk drained a three-pointer and started a back-and-forth of scoring between the teams before San Diego pulled away. At 2:03, Clippers forward Cam Reddish converted his running layup to give his team a nine point lead before the halftime buzzer sounded at 66-59 for San Diego. Guard Jalen House and power forward Hunter Sallie led the Clippers’ scoring surge with seven points a piece over the second set of 12 minutes.

The Stars responded in the third frame and retook the lead through a Max Abmas three-pointer during a run of 16 unanswered points that was capped off by Cleveland’s crowd-lifting alley-oop dunk with 5:09 on the clock. The quarter ended with the hosts holding a margin of 94-86

SLC kept the burners on in the fourth quarter as East II posted nine of their 24 points before House’s turnaround jumpshot leveled the scores at 120 with just 6.4 seconds left in regulation. The comeback effort proved short lived, however, and it was all Stars in overtime. Salt Lake scored 8 without reply and won the game 128-120 via Seabron’s decisive running layup to close out the doubleheader.

Six Stars players scored in double figures as East II (27), Cleveland (23) and Abmas (14) did so from the starting lineup and Seabron (19) Justin Harmon (16) and Mo Bamba (16) made impacts off the bench.

Bamba, who returned to the court after an ankle injury, again showcased his dominance in the paint with a game-high 14 rebounds to complete his double-double while also coming up big on defense with four blocks. East II and Seabron both put up seven assists that showcased vision and finesse.

House led the Clippers offense with a game-high 28 points and nine assists, complemented by Baldwin Jr.’s 26 points.

The Stars have another doubleheader on the horizon with the 6-12 Westchester Knicks coming to the Maverik Center on Feb. 6 and 7.