Colorado 113, Austin 97

DENVER, Dec. 19 – Elton Brown led the way with a season-high 33 points and 17 rebounds as the Colorado 14ers knocked off the Austin Toros for the second straight night with a 113-97 victory on Wednesday.

It was Brown’s eighth double-double performance in 11 games this season. Kaniel Dickens added 17 points, and Justin Cage poured in 16 to go along with 10 rebounds for the 14ers.

Colorado assumes first place in the NBA Development League Southwest Division with the win, improving to 8-3 on the season. Austin dropped to 7-3 with the loss.

“You always want to make sure that you do well on the home court,” said 14ers coach Joe Wolf.  “We got better tonight during the course of the game, and that’s a good sign for this team.”

Colorado broke open a close game by outscoring Austin 30-23 in the third quarter. Cage scored 10 of his 16 points in the quarter to help the 14ers take a nine-point lead. Colorado then scored the first six points of the fourth quarter and Austin never got within single digits the rest of the way.

Marcus Williams led the Toros with a season-high 29 points in the loss. Justin Bowen also had his best night of the season with 19 points and 15 rebounds. San Antonio Spurs assignee Ian Mahinmi returned to the lineup to contribute 11 points and two rebounds in 23 minutes of action after missing the Toros' last two games with an injured hip flexor.

Colorado hits the road to take on the Anaheim Arsenal on Friday.  Austin’s road trip continues at Utah on Friday.