CANTON, Ohio — The Canton Charge (15-24) dropped a back-and-forth affair to the Central Division leading Fort Wayne Mad Ants (23-15), 112-110, Saturday night at the Canton Memorial Civic Center in front of 3,150 fans. Tonight’s victory is just the Mad Ants’ fifth in Canton in 22 games and extends their current winning streak over the Charge to four games.

Four Charge players scored at least 20 points with Cavaliers’ assignee Marcus Thornton leading the way with 22 points. Reinserted in the starting lineup, forward JaCorey Williams responded with 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field in 35 minutes of action. Grant Jerrett scored 20 points and nabbed a season-high four steals in 40 minutes. London Perrantes scored 20 points and dished six assists.

The Charge dominated the paint in the first half, outscoring the Mad Ants 34-22 in the paint and held a 12-0 advantage on second chance points. A 34 point second quarter helped Canton enter the break with a 59-50 lead. A hot shooting third quarter (63%) for Fort Wayne helped erase a nine point deficit and pushed its own lead to as many as nine in the stanza. Jamil Wilson and Ben Moore combined for 20 of Fort Wayne’s 39 third quarter points, and the visitors laid claim to a 89-85 lead entering the fourth.

An active fourth quarter from both sides produced four lead changes and nine ties in the final 12 minutes. The Mad Ants’ defense put the clamps on the Charge’s perimeter efforts in the fourth, holding the home team to just 3-of-11 in the waning moments. Trailing 112-110, a Marcus Thornton three-pointer at the buzzer came up short as time expired.

NBA G League Dunk Contest champion DeQuan Jones scored a game-high 27 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in 43 minutes of action. Jarrod Uthoff scored 21 points and hauled in eight rebounds. Moore added 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting. The Mad Ants shot 54 percent from the field.