Vipers Complete Semifinals Sweep of Bighorns

RENO, NEVADA –The defending NBA Development League champion and third-seeded Rio GrandeValley Vipers completed the two-game sweep of the second-seeded Reno Bighorns witha 134-126 overtime win in Game 2 of the Semifinals on Wednesday at the RenoEvents Center.

The Vipers (4-1)open the Finals on Sunday against the top-seeded Iowa Energy on Sunday at 7:00p.m. at State Farm Arena. Tickets start at $7 and can be purchased by callingthe Vipers at 972-1144, at the Vipers Pro-Shop, the State Farm Arena box officeor through Ticketmaster. Game 2 will be on Wednesday, April 27 at 7:00 p.m. atWells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. If necessary, Game 3 will be on Friday,April 29 at 7:00 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena.

All Finalsgames will be televised on VERSUS, which can be found on Time Warner Cablechannel 314 (SD)/1314 (HD), Dish Network channel 151 and DirecTV channel 603.

When overtimebegan, the Vipers hadn’t led since the first quarter. Patrick Sullivan converted a three-point play with 2:39 remainingin to put the Vipers up 124-121, and the Vipers held the lead for the rest ofthe game.

Sullivanscored 17 points with nine rebounds while hitting 7-of-9 shots. The Vipers wereled in scoring by Jerel McNeal forthe fifth-straight game. He tied for the game-high with 35 points, 18 of whichcame from the foul line on 20 attempts. TerrelHarris scored 27 points.

The Vipers led5-2 after Mouhammad Faye hit athree-pointer in the opening minutes, but the Bighorns (2-3) scored the nextsix points on baskets by Donald Sloan,Doug Thomas and Bobby Simmons to take the lead for the rest of the first half.

The Vipersnever went down by more than six in the first quarter, but the Bighorns led byas many as 10 during the second quarter, including at 56-46 after an Andre Emmett jumper with 2:44remaining. The Vipers scored the next seven points to start a 9-1 run that sawthe Vipers close within 57-55 on a McNeal jumper with 39.6 seconds remaining.

After Matt Janning converted a three-pointplay 26 seconds into the third quarter, to bring the Vipers within three, theBighorns went on a 6-0 run to build their line to nine points. The Bighornstook a 14-point lead at 79-65 when Emmett hit a pair of free throws with 6:27remaining, but the Vipers responded with a 17-3 run to tie the game at 82-82 ona Richard Roby three-pointer with3:23 remaining.

The Viperstied the game multiple times in the fourth quarter, including with 2.2 secondsleft when McNeal hit a pair of free throws to make it 121-121 and forceovertime.

Marcus Landry led the Bighorns with 35 points on12-of-23 shooting.