Wassup in Westchester: Irvin’s double double helps W-Knicks bounce back

During my last time covering the Westchester Knicks (16-8), I asked head coach Mike Miller about this team’s tendency to let double digit leads disappear. And with a calm demeanor which also included a slight smile, Miller explained how every night in the G-League, any team is capable of erasing big leads and it’s just apart of the game. I sat there and nodded along as I thought about his comment, a bit more.

Fast forward to Friday night, when the W-Knicks led by as much as 19 points over the Raptors 905 (14-8), I couldn’t help but think of my brief conversation with Coach Miller; especially when the Raptors 905 were coming back from their 19 point deficit. But hey, runs are apart of basketball right? Well, the answer is yes, because the W-Knicks withstood their opposition’s tremendous second-half run before winning 113-110 on the road.

As the Raptors 905 found some success shooting from long distance along with creating turnovers on defense, the W-Knicks stayed under control. First of all, Zak Irvin had a night to remember as he had a performance that produced two career high’s in points (22) and shooting percentage (78% of his shots were made via 14 attempts). Joining Irvin and his scoring efforts, were five other Knicks including John Jenkins (20), Sekou Wiggs (18), and Gyorgy Goloman (13).

Throughout Friday’s game, the W-Knicks maintained their shooting splits of 54-36-58 from the field despite losing a 19 point lead and having noticeable stretches where they couldn’t score between two and three and a half minutes. And as seen in their previous games, the W-Knicks had to deal with another red hot scorer, in the Raptors 905’s Jordan Loyd who not only scored 34 points, but also secured 10 rebounds, seven assists, and went to the free throw line 18 times, which resulted in him making 17 attempts.

Up next for the Westchester Knicks is a Sunday afternoon home game against the Capital City Go-Go, who they recently defeated on December 27th.