OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Sunday night’s rematch saw the San Diego Clippers (3-1) and Valley Suns (3-2) duke it out at Frontwave Arena, where the Clips’ took the win 129-122.
Both teams came out with a frantic pace, turning the ball over. It was evident both the Clippers and the Suns wanted to run a faster offense.
Four Suns turnovers in the first 3 minutes led to several fastbreaks where the Clippers capitalized by getting to the basket, and the free throw line.
A RayJ Dennis 3 pointer gave the Clippers an early 15-9 lead. Something completely different from the first three games – the Clippers’ first quarter offense was cooking. After Dennis’ first three, a Trentyn Flowers and-1 layup, as well as another Dennis 3 bloomed their lead up to 12.
Shakur Daniel made his debut for the Clippers towards the end of the first quarter. Heading into the second frame, the Clippers led 33-18, looking poised and maintained.
After a back and forth first 6 minutes of the second frame, a tough two handed jam by Tosan Evbuomwan, led to a Valley timeout. Clippers still maintaining their 15 point lead.
By the end of the first half, the Clips’ bloomed their lead to 21, heading into the locker room up 69-48. Balanced scoring from the team saw multiple double-figure scorers, like Cam Christie with 14 points, Braxton Key with 13 points, and Jaelen House with 12 points.
“(This team) has trust in me. They believe that I am a good player. I appreciate them and they way they have accepted me thus far,” said House.
Key immediately gets the third quarter started with a lob dunk. Valley clearly came out of the locker room with a different energy, but the Clippers maintained their collectivity and matched the scoring output.
Valley was able to force a few turnovers, leading to a run, cutting the Clipper lead to only 12. That led to a timeout taken by San Diego to talk things over.
Moses Wood caught fire for the Valley, scoring multiple 3 pointers and dishing to his teammates, to continue cutting into San Diego’s lead. Luckily for San Diego, they were able to convert a bucket, and steal the ball in transition to essentially get a quick two baskets. They held a 97-87 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back 3 pointers for Elijah Harkless, and then a defensive stop set the tone for the Clippers’ fourth frame energy. It was clear the team didn’t want to make the same mistake from the last contest.
House also had quite the game, hitting a corner 3 and then the shimmy celebration after. He finished with 22 points, a career high in his young first season.
“That’s just something I’ve been doing since college, so I just brought it here,” laughed House.
He continued, “I’m feeling good, obviously my first game with real minutes. I’ve only been here a week, but I’m learning and playing my game.”
Flowers gave the crowd quite the thrill with a high flying dunk that was nothing short of a highlight, keeping the Clipper lead at 13.
Jaden Shackleford kept the Suns in the game, hitting 3 pointer after 3 pointer. Dennis was able to respond for a three of his own, Clip’s led 122-116 with 3 minutes left in the game.
Each team matched the 3 point barrage, making a very entertaining end-of-game sequence. The Clippers took home the dub, a satisfying end after Thursday’s loss.
Shackelford finished for the Suns with 41 points (11-18 on 3 pointers).
Christie finished with 22 points, Key with 21. It was the fourth straight game for the Clippers to have seven players in double figure scoring, a testament to their depth.
The next challenge that the Clippers face is a matchup against the South Bay Lakers, their SoCal rival. There will be a lot of eyes watching whether Bronny James is available for the matchup, but the public won’t know until gameday, which is Wed. November 20. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be played at Frontwave Arena.