After three crisp practices this week, Maine Red Claws Coach Scott Morrison felt his team was ready to take on division rival Delaware in the first of a two-game series Thursday night at the Portland Expo.

The Claws worked on two areas that proved troublesome lately: turnovers and rebounding.

Turns out they still need work.

The 87ers held Maine without a basket for the opening five minutes in the D-League game and never trailed on the way to a 109-90 victory before a crowd of 1,410.

“I was real happy with the week,” Morrison said. “I thought we had great practices. Then we go out there in the first quarter and don’t execute things we’ve done for three days straight, which is the frustrating thing.”

Delaware (16-13) forced seven turnovers in the first quarter and 11 by halftime to help end a three-game losing streak and pull within two games of the first-place Claws (19-12) in the Atlantic Division. Shawn Long pulled down 11 of Delaware’s 14 offensive rebounds (compared to five for Maine’s entire team) as the Sevens wound up taking 21 more shots than Maine.

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“That’s our Achilles heel right now,” Morrison said. “We’re combining turnovers with bad rebounding. It’s a real killer.”

Long led six double-digit scorers for Delaware with 22 points to go with 16 rebounds. Dionte Christmas added 21 points.

The bulk of Maine’s scoring came from three players. Jalen Jones had 28 points, Ryan Kelly 27 and Abdel Nader, back from missing a game because of a hip pointer, had 19.

Three starters combined for two points (Demetrius Jackson on 1-of-6 shooting). Marcus Georges-Hunt had a rough 0-of-7 night. After Nader, the next- highest scorer was Cameron Ayers with six points on a pair of long balls, one of them hurried in the final second of the opening quarter.

“We’re at our best when we have a balanced scoring attack,” Morrison said. “That’s how we’ve been every season here. This year, sometimes we’ve gotten away with one or two guys having big games, but over the course of 50 games you need to have a balanced attack in this league to be successful.”

After trailing by as many as a dozen in the first quarter, Maine battled back to 47-44 late in the second and Nader had an open look from the right corner for a tying 3-pointer that rimmed out.

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The Claws never came closer. Delaware scored the final six points of the first half and the first two baskets of the second to build a margin that never again slipped below 10 points.

“I think the positive I took out of it,” Jones said, “is that even though they were aggressive and making a lot of shots, we were also missing a lot of open shots that we usually make. I thought we kept fighting until the end. It just wasn’t our night.”

The game marked the third for Kelly, who played sparingly for Atlanta earlier in the season.

“My legs are under me a little bit better,” he said. “I think I’ll continue to get there.”

The teams play again Saturday night at the Expo. The Claws won their first meeting 95-91 in Delaware a month ago after draining 10 3-pointers in the opening quarter.

“They’re a very good team,” Delaware Coach Eugene Burroughs said. “They have a bunch of guys who can really shoot the ball. They do a great job attacking the rim. They’re a tough team to guard because of their ability to shoot the 3.”

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NOTES: The Red Claws will welcome back a former player, Ella Ellis, on Saturday as honorary captain on Military Appreciation Night. A West Point graduate, Ellis played in three games for the Claws last December, scoring two points. … The newest Red Claw, point guard Josh Hagins, had an assist and a rebound in 11 minutes of action. A product of Arkansas-Little Rock, Hagins joined Maine last weekend after playing in Bosnia.

Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or

Gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH


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