OKLAHOMA CITY, Oklahoma — Chris Babb scored 22 points to lead five players in double figures for the Maine Red Claws as they erased a 17-point third quarter deficit to rally for a 111-105 win over the Oklahoma City Blue in a NBA-D League opener on Friday night at Cox Convention Center.
Oklahoma City took control of the game from the start, opening the game with a 12-3 run and leading 32-21 at the end of the first quarter. The Blue pushed the lead to 56-41 at halftime.
Maine did not take their first lead of the game until Jermaine Taylor hit a floater that put the Red Claws up 86-84 with 6:25 left in the game.
Neither team was able to extend a lead to more than three points until a 3-pointer by Omari Johnson with 1:02 left in the game gave Maine a 102-98 lead.
A 3-pointer by Michael Jenkins cut the deficit back to one, but Christian Watford responded with a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left to push the lead back to four.
After an Oklahoma City miss, a pair of free throws by Tim Frazier with 21 seconds left put the game out of reach.
Taylor finished with 20 points for the Red Claws and Frazier added 18 points and nine assists.
Watford and Johnson rounded out the scoring leaders for the Red Claws with 16 and 14 points respectively.
The Blue were paced by Semaj Christon with a game-high 32 points.
Talib Zanna added 17 points and a game-high 15 rebounds for Oklahoma City.
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