Brady Heslip came off the bench to hit six 3-pointers and the D-League’s stingiest defense again gave the Maine Red Claws fits as the Raptors 905 completed a two-game sweep of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night.

The Raptors beat Maine 103-88 before a crowd announced as 1,967 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario.

It was the 12th straight victory for Raptors 905, Toronto’s second-year D-League affiliate.

They advance to the D-League championship series and will play Oklahoma City or Rio Grande.

The Red Claws lost Game 1 at the Portland Expo on Sunday night 109-84 after defeating Fort Wayne two games to one in the conference semifinals.

On Wednesday night, Cameron Ayers opened the game with a 3-pointer that gave the Red Claws their first lead of the series. Jalen Jones made it 5-0 on a baseline jumper but Raptors 905 responded with an 18-4 run to take the lead for good.

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The Red Claws fell behind by a dozen after one quarter but pulled within 35-34 on a driving dunk by Demetrius Jackson, who finished the game with a team-high 21 points.

In the final four minutes of the half, however, Heslip hit five 3-pointers as the Raptors outscored Maine 21-2 to reach intermission with a 56-36 advantage.

Jackson helped the Red Claws cut the deficit to 83-73 early in the fourth quarter but they came no closer.

Abdel Nader finished with 15 points and made only one of his nine 3-point attempts. Jalen Jones contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordan Mickey, like Jackson on assignment from the Boston Celtics, contributed 13 points and nine rebounds.

Guerschon Yabusele, a first-round Celtics draft pick who joined Maine at the end of March, was 1 of 7 from the field and finished the game with five points and three rebounds.

Heslip, one of the six Raptors who scored in double figures, finished with 21 points. E.J. Singler added 18 and Bruno Caboclo, on assignment from Toronto, had 16.

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Pascal Siakam, another NBA player from Toronto, had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Yanick Moreira added 16 points and 12 rebounds.

In five previous meetings between the teams, the visitors had never lost.

Raptors 905 won 39 games in the regular season, best in the league and 10 more than Maine, and were the only team to hold opponents below 100 points per game.

The Red Claws ended their most successful season in franchise history, a year that included a third straight Atlantic Division title, Rookie of the Year honors for Nader and a first-ever playoff series victory.


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