Griffin's 31 Points Pace Dazzle
GREENVILLE, S.C., Dec. 1 -- Artie Griffin scored a game-high 31 points as the Roanoke Dazzle defeated the Greenville Groove 89-78 Saturday afternoon at the BI-LO Center. His 31 points ties an NBDL single-game high for the season.
Griffin, who shot 11-for-17 from the field including 4-for-7 from beyond the arc, scored 13 points in the fourth quarter. With the win the Dazzle improved to 4-3 while the Groove fell to 4-5 on the season.
"When you accept the responsibility of being a pro basketball player, one thing comes with it, at that word is effort," said Roanoke Head Coach Kent Davison. "Thursday night we didn't get any effort. That was my fault. We didn't practice the day before because of a variety of things. You would hope they would do the things they would need to do. But it didn't work out. Yesterday we practiced, and we had a great practice. It was just a carry-over from that practice to how we played today."
Greenville took its largest lead of the game with 3:39 remaining in the second quarter when Merl Code hit a three-pointer to give the Groove a 41-36 advantage. But from that point on it was all Dazzle. Roanoke stretched their three-point lead at the beginning of the second half to double-digits just three minutes into the third quarter. Back-to-back buckets by Danny Earl, including a three-pointer, gave Roanoke a 55-45 lead with 7:08 remaining in the quarter.
The Groove could not close the gap closer than seven points in the fourth quarter as Griffin scored 13 points in the period en route to his record setting performance. Brent Wright led Greenville with a season-high 14 points in 27 minutes of play. Jason Miskiri was the only other member of the Groove to score in double-figures, ending with 13. Thomas Hamilton scored 12 points and grabbed a game-best 16 rebounds.
"They outplayed us today, that's all," said Groove Head Coach Milton Barnes. "I think they did a better job getting the ball out before our pressure had a chance to set up. They got the ball from out of bounds quicker and got off the court quicker. They did not allow our pressure to affect them. They did a good job overall of shooting the ball."
Next up Roanoke will travel to North Charleston for a game with the Lowgators Monday at 7 p.m. at the North Charleston Coliseum. Greenville will host Fayetteville on Monday at 7 p.m. at the BI-LO Center.
