PORTLAND – The look on Stefhon Hannah’s face said it all. Three minutes into the third quarter, Hannah was smiling as he ran down the court after he hit a 3-pointer, his eighth of the game.

The Maine Red Claws never found a way to wipe that smile off his face as Hannah’s Dakota Wizards took a 122-100 win Thursday night at the Portland Expo.

Hannah finished with 30 points in 30 minutes of play. He hit 8 of 12 3-pointers, leading Maine’s Kenny Hayes to question his team’s defense after the game.

“He’s good, but we scouted them and he’s a shooter,” Hayes said.

“You’ve got to get a hand in his face. We didn’t force him to put the ball on the floor and drive. It’s like Coach (Dave Leitao) talks to us about what to do and we get out here and we’re clueless.”

The Red Claws (12-20) certainly were at a loss for how to slow the Wizards (15-14). Six Dakota players scored in double figures, including Marcus Dove’s 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Tommy Smith had 16 points, also on 8-of-16 shooting.

Leitao wasn’t happy with the defense, though he wouldn’t condone Hayes’ criticism of the Red Claws.

“I don’t know if I’d say clueless,” Leitao said. “Number one, it’s about effort and number two, it’s about trust, trusting that your teammate’s going to be there for you. The funny thing about it is when we have days where we practice, not a day goes by where we don’t spend 40 or 50 percent of the time working on defense.”

Nothing went right for the Red Claws on Thursday.

Dakota led 9-0 two minutes into the game. When the Wizards went up 25-10 with 4:49 remaining in the first quarter, the Red Claws never again pulled within single digits.

Dakota’s 122 points tied for the second-most points allowed by Maine this year. Though the 22-point margin was not the biggest of the season, Dakota led by as much as 33 points several times in the third quarter.

Leitao could only speculate as to why defense is so hard to come by in the D-League. Part of it, he said, was that players think they have to score big numbers to get noticed by NBA teams, not play defense.

“A lot guys in this league have been major scorers in college and all the way along,” he said. “They’re all used to scoring.”

Morris Almond had 30 points to lead Maine’s offense. Hayes had the second triple-double in team history, with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Not bad for a 6-foot-1 point guard, but Hayes was definitely not in a celebratory mood.

“I think it’s my first one since high school,” he said. “I definitely feel like it showed my all-around game. It just (stinks) I can’t celebrate it with a win.”

It was Hannah who did all the celebrating Thursday.