EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- One week after suffering their first loss of the regular season in overtime against the Oklahoma City Blue, the South Bay Lakers righted last year’s wrongs Saturday night, this time winning an overtime thriller against the Memphis Hustle, 125-121 at the UCLA Health Training Center.
South Bay boasted one of its best lineups in some time, with Drew Timme and Bronny James back on the squad after missing the OKC game. They were led by a dominant performance from Timme with 26 points 10 rebounds and nine assists, along with 26 points from Kobe Bufkin.
The Lakers were able to squeak out the victory despite underperforming against a Hustle team that came in at 1-4 in the regular season. The Hustle had their best three-point shooting game of the season, going 18-32 from beyond the arc, good for 56.3%, while South Bay only shot 6-31, their lowest total and percentage of the season.
As with many of their games this season, South Bay had multiple large leads before letting their opponent back into it, leading to a thrilling finish to kick off the new year.
The Lakers were firing on all cylinders offensively and defensively to begin, jumping out to an early 21-9 lead, before the Hustle’s Charlie Brown Jr. (11 points) and Tyler Burton (10 points) brought them back into it. Tevian Jones (13 points) led the Lakers to a narrow 35-33 lead after one.
The Hustle returned the favor in the second, outscoring South Bay 35-33, propelled by their continued success from beyond the arc, including two triples from guard Lucas Williamson, who was 4-5 overall from three total on the night.
This contest went into the half knotted at 68.
The third quarter story was eerily similar to the first, with the purple and gold jumping on the Hustle early, featuring 12 points from Timme and five points and four assists from Bronny, opening up the Laker lead to 15 at 93-78 with just 4:09 remaining in the period.
The Hustle would then lock in, closing the quarter on a 12-0 run created by pesky defense and aggressive drives to the cup, applying pressure to the South Bay defense. The Hustle went into the final frame down only three.
The fourth quarter also saw the Lakers open up two separate seven point leads, but they were not able to close Memphis out, as their timely jump shooting kept bringing them back.
They even took a four point lead themselves with 1:47 remaining, before Drew Timme and Kobe Bufkin each scored, tying the game up at 116. The teams then traded buckets one final time, with a Kylor Kelley dunk for the Lakers and a Lawson Lovering tip-in for Memphis, ending regulation at a 118 tie, forcing overtime.
Overtime then tipped off with a target score of 125.
It was the backcourts of both teams that carried the load in the OT period, as Bufkin and Burton traded threes to begin. With the game tied at 121, Bronny James nailed a step back jumper, giving him 20 points on the night, followed by a block and a game sealing layup from Bufkin on the other end, giving the Lakers the victory.
Now sitting at 3-1 in the regular season, South Bay has repeatedly shown the ability to pull away late in games, even in the games they don’t have their best.
This is a very deep team, and as long as guys like Nick Smith Jr. and Adou Thiero are with the parent team, Tevian Jones, Chris Mañon and more will keep getting extended opportunities to step up and help this team win as they’ve been doing, on top of the star play from Timme, Bufkin and James.
South Bay will have to prove this victory wasn’t just a holiday fluke on Tuesday, when they take on Memphis again. This game will tip-off at 7:00 p.m., once again from the UHTC.
