Oso Ighodaro and Collin Gillespie led the way for the Suns.
The Valley Suns put on an absolute show on Monday, making a 24-point first-half deficit look like an ordinary obstacle en route to a 119-107 win over the San Diego Clippers.
Both teams brought a standard player from their NBA counterpart with them to Mullett Arena, and both made their presence felt early.
Oso Ighodaro scored the Suns’ first four points, and trade deadline acquisition Cam Christie knocked down a 3 for the Clippers’ second bucket.
The Clippers outscored the Suns 41-21 in the first quarter as their NBA prospects were the ones showed out, led by two-ways Jordan Miller and Kai Jones. They would maintain that margin for much of the half.
Ighodaro battled a pesky whistle in the first half to the tune of three fouls, but he was still able to flash some of what makes him an exciting prospect on offense. His passing intelligence is legit as a big man, and his handles are another positional strength when streaking toward the rim.
valley suns coach john little on oso ighodaro’s maturity to adapt to the back and forth nature of his current situation: pic.twitter.com/G0q889QTNm
— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) February 11, 2025
However, the shooting around Ighodaro just wasn’t there, as the G League’s team leader in 3-point shooting was just 7-for-25 to trail 66-50 at the half.
Valley chipped away slowly but surely down the stretch of the half, and it opened the third quarter with a 30-12 run, including three 3s by each of Jaden Shackelford and Jalen Bridges, to make it a tight contest once again.
“We needed to do a better job of keeping the ball in front. … We gave up 41 points in the first quarter. I think credit to our guys, we gave up 41 in the second half,” coach John Little said postgame. “Really good job of the team coming together and doing it as a unit.”
There was also a clear sense of urgency to the way the ball moved around the horn and intentionality with every dribble that just wasn’t there in the first half. The Suns also surpassed the first half’s made 3s mark with nine fewer attempts in the third quarter alone.
With the score 86-all at the start of the fourth, the Suns rattled off 13 straight points to take a commanding 99-86 lead as Olin Carter III heated up from deep off the bench and Collin Gillespie notched his first triple-double of the season (19 points, 13 rebounds, and 18 assists).
After a free throw-heavy sequence late, Ighodaro had what felt like the dagger when he cherry-picked for a dunk with about 90 seconds remaining to stretch the lead back out to nine.
Ighodaro finished with team highs 20 points and 16 rebounds. He was also a game-high +25 in 33 minutes.
The Suns played without TyTy Washington Jr. (rest) after he tallied seven points, four rebounds and two assists with the Phoenix Suns on Saturday.
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