PORTLAND — It was a blowout both on and off the Portland Expo hardwood.

On the court, the Maine Red Claws rode the most prolific quarter of scoring in the brief history of the franchise to a 122-97 triumph over the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants, before the club’s 15th straight home sellout, 3,045.

Whatever dynamic surge the Claws’ offense ”“ paced by newcomer Morris Almond’s 40 points ”“ displayed made up for the lack of the lack of power in the building through most of the second half.

The stiff Nor’easter that pummelled Southern Maine, knocked out electricity in the old Expo, midway through the third quarter, as Maine held a cushy 89-65 lead.

A backup generator quickly kicked in, but the scoreboard, high-powered game lights, even the public address system, had all fouled out.

Thus, with the assistance of bullhorns, stopwatches, and scrap paper, the game was able to continue.

“We already had a good lead,” said Almond, who was the NBDL’s leading scorer when he came to the Claws in last week’s trade with Springfield, “We just wanted to maintain that. It was dimmer out there. And when it got black, it was pitch black.”

Said point guard Russell Robinson, “it helped us out. It took their aggression away. There was no tempo after that.”

Maine, which sought to avenge the 118-110 loss handed them by the Ants on Wednesday, set a breakneck tempo in the first quarter, when the contest was all but decided.

Clutching a slim, 14-12 lead with 3:33 gone in the contest, the Claws launched into a 23-6 run, and wound up with a 44-28 lead.

The points were the most scored in a quarter by the franchise in its one year (to the day) existance.

“We played unbelievable tonight,” said Maine coach Austin Ainge. “(Wednesday) all those threes weren’t going in. Tonight, they were. That makes us hard to guard.”

Or in Almond’s case, impossible. Almond had five of those three-pointers, and had 16 points in the first quarter.

“I was getting wide open looks,” said Almond, who played his college ball at Rice. “We got good ball movement (to me) and I’d just knock them down.”

Almond was supported by Darnell Lazare’s 20 points, and Maurice Ager’s 19.

AIR BALLS: Afterward, Red Claws’ team president Jon Jennings expressed frustration with the circumstances that led to the interruption.

“I had met with the City (which owns the Expo),” said Jennings, “and was assured 99.9 percent that the generator would kick back on in any type of power outage. And that the scoreboard and the playing lights were connected. Obviously, that wasn’t the case.”

The Red Claws invested a reported $450,000 into the Expo after being granted the D-League franchise, in order to bring the aging building up to league standards. However, no upgrades were made to the building’s electrical system.

“That’s the responsibility of the City of Portland,” Jennings said. “To maintain an adequate space for us to play our games. We’re a tenant in the building. We should be able to have our lights and scoreboard working.”

The Red Claws have a home game scheduled for Sunday, against the Erie Bay Hawks, and Jennings is crossing his fingers that power won’t be an issue, then.

“On one hand,” he said, “it’s hard to be upset because it’s a weather related situation. It’s not that the power blew because of faulty wiring. But at the same time, it is a bit frustrating that the generator was not fully connected. This better be worked out.”

— Contact Staff Writer Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.