Celtics Cruise Past Motor City

PORTLAND, ME – The Maine Celtics came out of the gates hot and raced past the Motor City Cruise, claiming a 132-102 win for their fourth-straight victory to begin the regular season. 

Kamar Baldwin led Maine (4-0) with 12 points, five rebounds and seven assists. Two-Way player Mfiondu Kabengele posted 18 points and five rebounds with fellow Two-Way player JD Davison with eight points, nine rebounds and 10 assists. Marial Shayok added 18 points, five rebounds and three assists. Luka Šamanić had 16 points and Scottie Lindsey led the bench with 17 points. Eric Demers shot 4-4 from deep and scored 13 points and Denzel Valentine totaled 11 points, six rebounds and nine assists.  

David Nwaba notched 20 points and five rebounds to lead Motor City (1-3). Newly acquired Two-Way player Jared Rhoden put up 17 points and nine rebounds. Keifer Sykes logged 13 points, five rebounds and seven assists and Jaime Echenique had 12 points and five boards. Devontae Cacok recorded 10 points and six rebounds. 

Shayok curled off a screen and hit a rolling Kabengele with a lob for a rim-rattling dunk to get the night going; Cacok’s 1-for-2 put Motor City on the board soon after. Shayok dumped a pass off to Kabengele for another dunk as Maine got out to an efficient start, shooting 70 percent as a team midway through the first. The Celtics’ ball movement diced up the Cruise defense, creating open looks inside and from long-range to help Maine built a 16-4 lead early. Motor City woke up towards the end of the opening frame, but eight first-quarter points from Shayok helped Maine get out to a 36-12 lead. 

The Cruise came out in a zone defense to open the second, though A.J. Reeves busted it with a contested three-pointer on Maine’s second offensive possession of the quarter. Maine would soon push the lead north of 20, taking control of the tempo on both ends of the floor and imposing their will on the opponent. The Celtics were holding the Cruise to 37 percent from the field at the halfway point of the second, with Sykes accounting for 13 of the team’s first 30 points. After two, the Celtics led 64-40. 

The Celtics picked up where they left off in the first half, as Kabengele opened the third quarter with a couple of big dunks. Maine quickly stretched the lead to 80-48, quickly putting the game out of reach while Motor City struggled to create much of anything offensively. Six Celtics had reached double-figure scoring by the time the third ended with Maine ahead, 101-72. 

Both teams fought back and forth throughout the fourth quarter, but a scintillating shooting performance from Eric Demers, who stepped off the bench and shot 4-4 from deep and scored 13 points in nine minutes as the Celtics cruised to a victory over Motor City, 132-102. 

The Maine Celtics will complete a back-to-back with Motor City tomorrow evening before heading on the road for a two-game set with the Grand Rapids Gold on Jan. 8 and Jan. 10.