College Article Feature: Valley Suns Burn out in Utah Again as Stars Claim West Division

Written by Will Naughton | Weber State University

SALT LAKE CITY - In a dominant sweep, the Salt Lake City Stars once again overcame an early scoring surge from the Valley Suns and won 141 - 125 at the Maverik Center on Dec. 16, closing out Tip-Off Tournament play and improving to 12-2 with their seventh home win of the NBA G League season during the Cardboard Exchange’s Trading Card Night event.

After falling behind by 14 points in the opening frame, the Stars came roaring back in the second quarter and conclusively overturned the deficit when two-way guard Elijah Harkless floated the ball up for a pandemonious alley-oop dunk from center Mo Bamba. From there, the tables stayed turned and SLC went to the locker room with a 70 - 56 halftime lead over Valley, who ultimately fell to 3 - 11 on the season.

The Suns, led by point guard Damion Baugh on the scoreboard with 24 points, never reclaimed their advantage in the second half and only managed to come as close as a five-point disadvantage during the third quarter. Salt Lake led by as much as 21 before the final buzzer and went on to crown themselves champions of the Western Division.

Two-way guard John Tonje scored a game-high 29 points (10-17 FGM, 4-8 3PM, 4-5 FTM) as Harkless recorded 26 points of his own and put up 11 assists; joint-highest with rookie Sean East II, whose 16 points saw him post a second straight double-double.

East II, whose playmaking matched career-best assist numbers on the night, is thriving under head coach Rick Higgins’ fluid style of basketball.

“He allows me to play free,” East II said. “Whatever I want to do once I get the rebound or get control of the ball. He’s got a few things that he wants us to exploit on defense, but if I see something, he allows me to call it.”

Overall, seven players scored in double figures for Salt Lake: Tonje (29), Harkless (26), Bamba (21) and two-way center Oscar Tshiebwe (13) achieved this from the starting five while guard Matthew Murrell (18), East II (16) and forward Cameron McGriff (14) impacted off the bench.

Bamba and Tshiebwe got up for nine and 12 rebounds respectively, proving physically paramount in the paint for the hosts as the former made five blocks and the latter logged a double-double.

Higgins was happy to have the evening's top board man back in the team after Tshiebwe missed game 14 after being recalled by the Utah Jazz.

“Oscar always just brings a spirit to our team that we miss when he’s not around,” said Higgins. “Mix that with the rebounding and the extra opportunities we get because of his offensive rebounding, and he just provides a lot of extra energy for our group.”

As champions of the West, the Stars now go into the Winter Showcase Tournament in Orlando, Florida, as a top seed, ideally positioned within an eight-team bracket to gun for the shared $100,000 prize.