The Armor (10-26) jumped out to a 9-1 advantage early, fueled by a pair of Tony Bobbitt three-pointers and held a 21-13 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second, the Vipers (26-11) slowly chipped away at the Armor lead and despite a Jarvis Gunter basket at the buzzer, held a 40-38 lead over the Armor at half.
In the third quarter, the Vipers opened up a commanding lead they would never relinquish. Although Rio Grande Valley only had eight players available, seven of those players scored in double figures and the Armor had no answer for the Vipers’ balanced attack.
Matt Janning led the Vipers with 17 points, Mouhammad Faye added 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Jerel McNeal tossed in 14 points and dished out 10 assists. The Vipers out-rebounded the Armor 49-32 and held the Armor under 30% shooting on the afternoon.
JamesOn Curry scored a game-high 18 points to lead the Armor. Tony Bobbitt tallied 16 points and Jamar Brown chipped in 12 points in the losing effort.
The Armor return to action on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the MassMutual Center when they take on the league-best Iowa Energy in the teams’ lone meeting this season. The Energy are led by NBA D-League All-Stars Othyus Jeffers and Curtis Stinson and NBA D-League All-Star MVP Courtney Sims.
