ERIE, Pa. – Dave Leitao wouldn’t allow his Maine Red Claws to spin the tale of fatigue after losing 117-110 to the Erie BayHawks on Friday night.
“I just told them after the game if we use that as an excuse, we can’t be anything that we’re trying to be individually or collectively,” Leitao said.
Maine (12-18) was concluding a four-game trip that started Feb. 2. The Red Claws were coming off a two-point win at Fort Wayne on Thursday night and had to face the rested BayHawks (14-15), who hadn’t played since Monday.
Even after adding up all those factors, Leitao told the Red Claws that they shouldn’t be an excuse for losing.
“This is a league of challenges each and every day,” Leitao said. “We’ve been on the road for 12 days. This is the second of three games in four days. If we come into a mind-set of ‘hey, we’re a little fatigued’ or this or that, you can’t even play in this league.”
Maine finished 3-1 on the trip with all the wins coming at Fort Wayne. The Red Claws lost Friday despite shooting 51.1 percent from the field.
“We didn’t play well on defense,” said Maine guard Paul Harris. “No excuses. We’ve got to play better. I know we’re coming off a three-game win streak, but if we want to be one of the best teams in this league, we’ve got to learn how to play better D.”
Former NBA point guard Mike James scored 26 points to lead the BayHawks, who were coming off their worst loss in franchise history — a 138-107 road defeat Monday against the Los Angeles D-Fenders
“We stayed on the grind and so we were able to make plays,” James said.
With president and general manager Jon Jennings in attendance, the Red Claws almost erased a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit.
Harris scored 16 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter as the Red Claws trimmed Erie’s lead to 93-92 with 7:09 left. Harris had 10 points in a 17-2 run.
“Paul Harris did a great job of putting them on his back and really making tough shots,” Erie Coach Jay Larranaga said.
“If you look through the game when we made that run, we showed a spark. So obviously if we showed a spark, we couldn’t have been that tired,” said Craig Brackins, who scored 24 points for the Red Claws.
James had 11 points in the last four minutes to help the BayHawks regain control. His 3-pointer with 1:02 left gave Erie a 111-103 lead.
“Bottom line, he was the difference,” Harris said. “He’s a great player. Got a lot of respect for him.”
The Red Claws trailed 55-54 at the half. Maine led by as many as eight points in the first half but Erie closed the second quarter on an 18-9 run.
Brackins had 12 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting to lead the Red Claws, while Morris Almond had 10 points.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
