PORTLAND – The beauty of a quick turnaround game is the opportunity for redemption and a chance to quickly restore some much-needed confidence.
The Maine Red Claws capitalized on that opportunity Saturday.
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Just over 12 hours after an epic collapse against the Iowa Energy, the Red Claws rebounded with a 101-86 victory over the Energy in front of 2,835 at the Portland Expo.
“It would have been terrible if we played (Friday) and then our next game was next week,” said Red Claws forward Paul Harris. “That would have been hurtful. It was good that we got to come back the next day.
“But we have to remember, you don’t always get a second chance.”
The Red Claws didn’t show any signs of a hangover from coughing up a 21-point third-quarter lead in a 111-102 loss Friday night.
They got off to a good start, building a 7-2 lead in the opening three minutes. That lead held until the late stages of the period, when Maine went on a 9-0 run, which included five points by Dominic Calegari to up the advantage to 26-14.
Harris paced the Red Claws in the quarter with 12 of his 17 points.
Meanwhile, instead of picking up where they left off, the Energy couldn’t find their range in the opening quarter, shooting just 23.8 percent.
Mike Tisdale sparked an 8-0 Red Claws run early in the second quarter with six straight points that upped the lead to 34-20 midway through the period. The 14-point bulge was the biggest of the half.
The teams hit the break with Maine leading, 46-35.
“I’ve learned that when you play back-to-back games, you have to have a very short memory,” said Red Claws Coach Dave Leitao.
“When we came in this morning we had to review some of the stuff from yesterday, not to point out mistakes but to quickly understand that we had to clean up some stuff. We presented it as a challenge moving forward.”
The Red Claws ensured that a second straight second-half collapse was not going to happen with a solid third quarter.
After sinking only one 3-pointer on six tries in the opening half, Maine drained all seven attempts in the third quarter. Justin Brownlee was successful on all four of his long-distance attempts in the period, accounting for 12 of his game-high 21 points.
Maine led 79-61 heading into the final quarter.
“We definitely knew that third quarter was going to be important for us,” said Brownlee, who also collected a game-high 14 rebounds. “We wanted to keep that lead, keep attacking and keep being aggressive.”
Andrew Drevo and Darion Anderson paced the Energy with 15 points each.
NOTES: The Red Claws lost Darren Cooper to a sprained ankle in the first quarter. He collected one assist in 5:23 and didn’t return.
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