Colorado 110, Sioux Falls 94

DENVER, April 11 – The Colorado 14ers defeated the Sioux Falls Skyforce, 110-94, on Friday at the Broomfield Event Center for their fifth straight win.

With the victory, coupled with the Austin Toros' clinching the Southwest Division title with a win over Albuquerque also on Friday, the 14ers clinched a playoff spot as a wildcard.

The 14ers were led by Justin Cage’s 23 points, five rebounds, and three blocked shots off the bench.  Roderick Riley added 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Eddie Gill fell one assist shy of a triple-double.

Sioux Falls was led by Glen McGowan’s 23 points off the bench. David Bailey added 18, while Chris Alexander scored 14 points and pulled down 17 rebounds for the Skyforce.

“It’s nice to know that our guys came to play tonight and understood the situation,” said 14ers head coach Joe Wolf.  “This was big game for them and a big game for us, and we understood that they are a great team and we gave them a good ballgame.”

Colorado got off to a fast start behind 11 first quarter points from Riley.  The 14ers also held Sioux Fallsto 39 percent shooting in the first half to take a 12-point lead at the break. The Skyforce answered by outscoring Colorado 28-20 in the third period to cut the deficit to four entering the fourth quarter.

 Sioux Falls took its first lead of the game at 82-80 on two Glen McGowan free throws with 9:06 to play. Colorado's Billy Thomas hit two 3-pointers over the next 1:51, as and the 14ers jumped back to an eight point advantage with 6:12 to play.  Colorado never trailed the rest of the way en route to the win.

The 14ers close out the regular season on Saturday against the Albuquerque Thunderbirds at Tingley Coliseum.  Sioux Falls ended its regular season at 28-22.