May 9, 2024

Ben Strong (Red Lake Nation) had 10 Points for Knicks but Westchester Falls to Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Andre Barrett drained a 3-pointer to open the game for Westchester, but it was all Grand Rapids after that.

Willie Reed had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Grand Rapids Drive beat the Westchester Knicks 111-88 on Saturday night at the DeltaPlex for their fourth-straight win. Grand Rapids improves to 4-3 overall and 3-0 at home after limiting its opponents to under 100 points for the fifth-straight game. Westchester falls to 4-4.

The Drive went on a 21-3 run in the first quarter for a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Brandon Fields scored on a full-court alley-oop pass to at the buzzer to end the first half with a 53-34 lead.

Lorenzo Brown scored 17 points to lead six Drive players scoring in double figures. Adonis Thomas, Reed and Kammeon Holsey each had 13 points and Fields finished with 12 points and five assists. Todd Mayo had 20 points for Westchester to lead all scorers and Barrett had 18.

Ben Strong (Red Lake Nation) had 10 points and a team high 6 rebounds for Westchester.

Before the game, Grand Rapids announced it acquired forward Manny Atkins in a trade with the Sioux Falls Skyforce. In return, the Drive will give Sioux Falls a sixth-round pick in 2015 NBA Development League Draft. Atkins, 6-foot-7, 205 pounds, has played in three games with Sioux Falls this season, but has not scored a point in 19 minutes of play. He went undrafted in 2014 after playing his junior and senior seasons at Georgia State University, where he averaged 14.3 points per game.

Grand Rapids kicks off a four-game road trip beginning Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Erie Bayhawks, the affiliate of the Orlando Magic. Grand Rapids, the affiliate of the Detroit Pistons, returns home on Dec. 20.