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Sometimes, a technical foul can do a lot to a team — and do a lot for a team as well.
That seemed to be the case Tuesday as the RGV Vipers defeated the Texas Legends 124-120 during the annual kids game at Bert Ogden Arena. The win improves RGV to 8-5 while Texas falls to 5-9.
Jarrett Culver and Cam Whitmore had ice in their veins down the stretch, and RGV rallied with 3:15 to go in the third quarter after Mike Miles Jr. was called for a technical foul and RGV trailing by seven. Until then, the Legends led for most of the first three quarters. That technical seemed to bring alive both the Vipers and the close to 6,000 screeching school children.
Nate Hinton hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:18 left, Ray Spalding blocked a shot on the next possession then scored off an offensive rebound while falling backward, and RGV led 117-112 with less than 2 minutes remaining.
The technical seemed to send the Vipers on a rally to close within 89-86 late in the third on a Culver 3-pointer, his third of the game. The Legends were stubborn, however, in giving up the lead.
The Vipers were within one and had a few opportunities to tie or take the lead but couldn’t convert on any of them, and Texas still led, 93-92, at the end of the third quarter. To that point, there had been only two lead changes and two ties.
Whitmore’s driving basket gave RGV a 94-93 lead 40 seconds into the fourth period, and he added two more from the free-throw line as the Vipers equaled their biggest lead of the game at 96-93. John Knight III hit two more from the line and RGV led by 5.
They pushed it to 108-100 on another Whitmore 3 and a goaltending call.
After the technical, the Vipers’ intensity picked up on defense, cutting off the lane on multiple occasions, a tactic that was successful for three quarters for the Legends.
“It all starts on the defensive end,” Whitmore said. “We have to get connected on the switches, and they slip a lot, too, on screens. We have to stay connected and close, and watch the back side. Keep aware all the way around and down the bench.”
Whitmore led the Vipers with 33 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. The rebounds were especially huge, considering the Vipers were playing without power forward/center Darius Days, out with a left ankle injury. Early in the third quarter, the Legends held a 32-19 advantage on the boards. When the game was over, each team had 50 rebounds, led by Whitmore and Jermaine Samuels Jr., and Trhae Mitchell added nine rebounds.
Culver tallied 20 points, Samuels had 18 and Nate Hinton 17. John Knight III was the fifth Vipers player in double-digit scoring with 14.
Jordan Walker led all scorers with 36 for the Legends.
Halfway through the first quarter, the teams were tied at 21 and on pace for 160-point performances.
The pace slowed and field goal percentages came down as well. During the second half of the opening period, the Legends outscored the Vipers 10-7 and led 31-28.
Texas led 69-58 at the half.
Earlier in the second, a massive tomahawk dunk from Whitmore on a pass from Shawn Occeus pulled the Vipers to within 38-37 with 8:23 left in the second period. It was part of a furious 7-0 run that included an Occeus 3-pointer and brought the crowd to a screeching new noise level.
The Vipers return to action at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Austin Spurs. It’s the final game of the first part of the season, which concludes with the NBA G League Winter Showcase, the annual in-season tournament in which all teams will play in front of NBA general managers and other executives.
The tournament is from Dec. 19-22 in Orlando, Florida. It will mark the 19th event, featuring 31 games over four days spread across two courts. This is the first season that the G League will host the event in Orlando after previous Winter Showcases had been held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
