Flash pick up after five-game losing streak.
There are five seconds to go in the first half of what has been a war to keep the lead.
A tired Flash team passes the ball to Hamilton… 4 seconds… A couple quick dribbles and the ball is in Gabe Pruitt’s hands… 3 seconds. Pruitt steps up to the half court line… 2 seconds…and floats the basketball into the air. Then, silence. 1 second… A wild audience scream fills the McKay Events Center and the flash pull ahead by nine.
A total of 34 turnovers and an incredible offensive set for Colorado 14ers forward Kaniel Dickens, who scored 21 points in less than two quarters, kept the Utah Flash on their toes.
However, the fortunate Flash ended their five-game losing streak with a 108-99 win against the 14ers.
Aside from an almost expected solid game from Morris Almond who netted 33 points, Pruitt has been the talk of the team since he was reassigned to play from the Boston Celtics to the Utah Flash nearly a month ago.
Pruitt added some much needed spice to a game that was practically missing centers Fesenko and Lang who put 11 points on the board between the both of them.
"We didn’t have it down low today," Pruitt said, "but I thought the guys on the perimeter and those guys on the bench gave us a push and more energy… and we all just built off of that."
Earlier on game day coach Brad Jones challenged his team to do a shoot-around to, in order to get mentally focused for the game which would prove vital on whether or not the Flash get a shot in the playoffs.
"It was a big win for us tonight," Jones said, "but the bottom line is whether we play good or not we’ve got to protect our home court."
They certainly did when Kruger hit three 3-pointers, one of which was at a shot clock buzzer and several team plays from "He-man" Hamilton.
"We have talked about having smart energy," Jones said. "We have had energy throughout most of the year and most of our games, but then we just don’t do things very smart…but we stuck with our game plan tonight, we’re making progress."
The Flash now are 20-22 for the season and are looking at three more games to go at the beginning of April.
