COLLEGE PARK, Ga. – The College Park Skyhawks (19-13) defeated the Lakeland Magic (9-21), 140-136, in the team’s final regular season home game. The win marks College Park’s ninth consecutive, which sets a new G League best this season and extends the College Park team record.
Sharife Cooper poured in a career-high 42 points (14-19 FG, 7-9 3FG) and dished out five assists. Cooper’s three-pointer with 11 seconds left gave the Skyhawks the lead late and ultimately won them the game. Cat Barber, his partner in the backcourt, finished with 23 points and six assists of his own.
Marcus Georges-Hunt set a new best with the Skyhawks with 27 points, the fourth time he has scored at least 20 points this season. It is the fourth consecutive game he has scored at least 17 points.
Justin Tillman added 21 points and nine rebounds, the fourth Skyhawks player with at least 20 points. It is the fourth time this season that the team has had four 20+ point scorers in the same game. The team also accomplished this feat on Sunday at Windy City. Since the 2019-20 season, only twice has one team had four 20-point scorers in consecutive games, per Elias Sports.
The Skyhawks scored a team-record 82 points in the first half behind 25 from Cooper, which set a first half career high for the rookie guard. The Magic kept it close with 78 points of their own. The 160 combined points in the first half has only been bested five times in G League history, with the most recent coming in 2015.
The Skyhawks and Magic traded leads in the third quarter, but the Skyhawks took a 111-104 lead into the fourth.
The fourth quarter had four lead changes and one tie, and Cooper’s late three plus a steal and layup from Barber helped ice the game in the closing seconds.
The Magic were led by three 20-point scorers of their own. Devin Cannady poured in 29 points, including eight made three’s. BJ Johnson had 27 points and nine rebounds. Hassani Gravett scored 24 points and pulled down eight rebounds off the bench to round out the trio.
“We are approaching every game like it is a playoff game,” said Skyhawks Head Coach Steve Gansey. “The pressure has been fun, and these guys have done nothing but step up and continue to find a way to win.”
The Skyhawks close out their season with a two-game set at Grand Rapids on Friday and Saturday. Both games are at 7 p.m. ET and can be watched live on NBAGLeague.com.