The Texas Legends used a career night from guard Justin Dentmon to beat the Iowa Energy 119-114 on Thursday night at the 2011 NBA D-League Showcase in the South Padre Island Convention Centre. Dentmon nearly had the Legends first triple-double in team history, as he dropped a career-high and Legends single-game record 38 points (14-14 from the free throw line) and dished out a Texas single-game record 13 assists. His seven rebounds left him three shy of the feat, while he also added four steals in the victory. Texas got out to a quick start leading 24-6 midway through the first quarter, thanks to a dominating 20-0 run, after trailing 6-4 to start. Dentmon also got his scoring going early with 16 of his points coming in that opening period. However, the Energy came back in the second and after a 19-4 sprint, drew within one point of the Legends. Texas though finished the first half on a 12-4 run and took a 61-50 lead into the break. The Legends were able to maintain their lead throughout the third quarter and went into the fourth on top by 12. Iowa once again would not go down quietly. With Texas on top 94-82, the Energy outscored the Legends 19-2 over the next four and a half minutes to take their first lead since the opening minutes of the game, 99-96. With under two minutes to go in the game and the Legends trailing 105-103, Sean Williams muscled his way down low to a strong bucket, while also drawing a foul. He would complete the three-point play, giving the Legends a one-point advantage, which they would not surrender the rest of the way. Kelvin Lewis scored eight of his season-high 28 points in the final 1:20 to complete the victory. Joe Alexander also nearly completed a triple-double pouring in 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. Othyus Jeffers led the way for Iowa with 25 points and six boards. The win was the Legends first ever in the D-League showcase, as they walked away 1-1 in their two games on South Padre Island. With the victory tonight Texas improved to 10-9 on the season, while Iowa fell to 16-7. The Legends will now head to Reno to take on the Bighorns in a weekend series. The first game is on Saturday night with a 9:00 p.m. tip-off and the finale is on Sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m.. Great tickets for all Legends home games are still available by calling (214) 469-0822 or emailing the team at info@TexLegends.com.
