The Lakeland Magic, NBA G League affiliate of the Orlando Magic, defeat the Birmingham Squadron 101-95 on Thursday at the RP Funding Center.
The first couple of minutes were all Magic starting out with a nine–two-run. Magic guard R.J. Hampton who was on assignment at his request made his G-League debut. Hampton had seven first-quarter points on three of three shooting. At the end of the first quarter, Lakeland led 28-21.
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The second quarter was a back-and-forth battle between both teams. It wasn’t until the 6:55 mark that the Squadron had gotten their first lead with a go-ahead bucket by Kelan Martin. The lead changed four more times in the quarter, the Squadron retained their lead 55-49 at the end of the first half.
Neither team could gain momentum midway through the third. With three lead changes, the Magic had a three-point lead after outscoring the Squadron 26-20 to finish the quarter at 77-75.
The fourth quarter turned into a back-and-forth battle between both teams. Despite the Squadron’s effort, the Magic built an eight-point lead with a layup from Zavier Simpson with 5:52 remaining in the game. Birmingham put forth their best effort going on a six-two run though it was not enough. The Magic quickly regained momentum and got their first victory in the month of December snapping a four-game losing streak. “Playing at 10 AM is different, I haven’t done it since I was in AAU. Basketball is something I love and I’ll play it anywhere,” Hampton said.
R.J. Hampton finished the game with a team-high 24 points. Simi Shittu added a double-double scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Zylan Cheatham finished with a game-high 27 points and eight rebounds for the Squadron.
The Lakeland Magic (6-9) will face the Texas Legends on Friday, December 16 at the RP Funding Center at 7:00 PM on NBAGleague.com.