Lathan, Ayer hit it big in Vegas
They tally 61 points on 25-32 shooting Givens, Lathan combine for 49 points on 76-percent shooting
Trayvon Lathan and Chris Ayer had career games on Saturday as the Los Angeles Lightning rallied for a 140-125 IBL basketball victory over the Nevada Pride in Las Vegas.
Lathan, a 6-8 guard who played pro ball in China this year, scored a career-high 32 points on 12-16 shooting. He was a perfect 7-7 from the field in the second half when L.A. overcame a 63-58 halftime deficit by outscoring the Pride 82-62 in the last two quarters.
Ayer, a 6-11 center, sank 13-16 from the field on his way to a career- best 29 points. He also had eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
The Lightning (2-0) beat the Pride 143-97 in its season opener on Friday.
"They (Nevada) shot it a lot better today," said
Ayer. "We shot real well in the second half and we were playing really good team ball. We were running stuff that they weren’t defending well. We picked apart their defense."
Lathan and Ayer combined to shoot 78.1 percent (25-32) and made 14 of 15 shots in the second half.
Dajuan Tate led the Pride with 32 points and Trevor Lawrence had 31 and 11 boards.
Lightning forward Keith Simpson came off the bench to score 22 points in 26 minutes with eight rebounds. He hit 4-of-5 from 3-point range and Fred Vinson added 14 points with four triples.
Phil Givens had 17 points and eight assists and Travis Pinick grabbed 12 rebounds, helping L.A. to a 57-39 advantage on the boards.
The Lightning, who shot 56 percent, were only ahead by three (82-79) midway through the third quarter but took control with a 10-3 run, capped by a slam dunk from Lathan and a technical free throw by Vinson.
Lathan scored 15 in the third period, helping the Lightning to a 43-30 advantage.
"We just had to grind it out, they weren’t going to lose by 40 in two straight games," said Lathan, who had six rebounds and six assists. "We shared the ball again (30 assists) and the guys played hard."
Nevada got within four, 118-114, with seven minutes to play before Vinson hit a 3-pointer and Simpson jammed on the break to ignite a 7-0 run that boosted the lead back to 11.
The Lightning will play its home opener on Saturday at Cal Lutheran against the Oregon Waves in a rematch of last year’s IBL Championship Series. On Sunday, the same teams will battle at Santa Barbara City College in a live TV game (KKFX/FOX 11) at 3 p.m.
