The Austin Spurs had just one day of rest between their return trip from San Diego, a late tip off central time and their 3:00 p.m. game against the Memphis Hustle — one of the worst teams in the NBA G League.
With a lack of rest, or Memphis being a better team despite what is kept in the record book, Austin had some difficulty in the first half, trailing by nine points at the halftime break.
Despite the first half difficulties, Spurs guard Trey McGowens exploded in the second with 15 points, giving Austin a spark to survive a close game to top Memphis, 102-97, Sunday afternoon at the H-E-B Center at Cedar Park.
“They’re a tough contest,” Austin head coach Jacob Chance said. “We found a way there in the third just to get a little bit of momentum. And as always with us, it usually comes in (the) defensive end. Trey McGowens set a fuse for us and found some offense on the back of that.”
McGowens, starting on the bench against the Hustle, made a complete 180 from one half to the next. In 9:36 minutes, the Austin guard had a meager stat line of two rebounds and one attempted shot, which he missed.
Despite a less-than-stellar performance off the bench, McGowens did not allow that to affect his game in the second half, instead focusing on “staying present.”
“I was really talking to myself on the sideline, ‘stay with it, stay with it,’” McGowens said. “Talking to myself, so just trying to stay with it. It’s a long game.”
McGowens did stay with it, and in the second half was able to find his offensive ability, fully taking over. McGowens scored all of his 15 points in the final 24 minutes and was able to dish out a pair of assists.
But it was McGowen’s defense that was felt the most in the second half, with Memphis leaving a short leash, forcing Austin to make every shot count down the stretch. He led the team in steals and blocks, three and two, respectively.
“Sometimes he goes too far, and he puts himself in tricky positions,” Chance said. “I’d take those guys every day of the week, that’s the guys we want to coach.”
Although McGowens was a major contributor in the second-half push that brought the Spurs over the top, it proved to be guard Kyle Mangas, hitting the biggest shot of the night, who gave Austin a one-possession lead with a little over a minute left.
The Spurs dialed up a play that put the ball in Mangas’ hand for the inbound pass to Austin forward Harrison Ingram before tossing it back to Mangas for the shot at the end of the possession.
Memphis crowded Ingram, but the Spurs forward was able to use his size and maintain composure, flipping the ball to Mangas, who cashed in on the deep 23-foot three-pointer to put Austin on top.
“That’s a play that we’ve had up our back pocket for a long time,” Chance said. “Credit to (Mangas) and (Ingram), they were able to execute it, and the way Memphis guarded us, they were able to punish them.”
Austin will face the Oklahoma City Blue, the Thunder’s G League affiliate, at 11 a.m on Tuesday at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
