Sioux Falls, SD — Trailing after one quarter, the Sioux Falls Skyforce outscored the Maine Red Claws 37-14 in the second quarter to take control of the game en route to a 118-96 victory. The victory is the fourth in five games against the Red Claws this season.

An evenly contested first quarter saw a total of eight lead changes and five ties. In the quarter, Maine’s (26-13) biggest lead was five and Sioux Falls’ (23-17) biggest lead was two. Scotty Hopson led all scorers with seven first quarter points but the Skyforce would trail Maine, 27-26, at the completion of the first quarter.

A driving lay-up from Miami Heat assignee Zoran Dragic with 10:03 left in the second quarter gave the Skyforce a 29-27 lead which they would never relinquish.

From there, Sioux Falls would slowly grow its lead and would go up by double-digits for the first time in the game when a three-point shot from Fuquan Edwin with 4:33 remaining in the quarter made the score 47-37. In total, Sioux Falls outscored Maine 37-14 in the second quarter and took a 63-41 lead into the halftime break.

A put-back dunk by Maine’s Tim Frazier cut the Skyforce lead to 12 with 7:57 remaining in the third quarter. Andre Dawkins would respond with three-pointers on consecutive Sioux Falls possession and the lead was back to 18 less than 30 seconds after the Frazier dunk. By the end of the quarter, the Skyforce lead would increase to 24 as they took a 96-72 lead into the final quarter of play. Twelve third quarter points from Dawkins gave him 15 points on the night.

Dragic would extend the Skyforce lead to 28, their largest of the game, when he hit a free-throw with 6:19 remaining. Sioux Falls would remain in control for the remainder of the game. The win is the fourth straight win for Sioux Falls and keeps them atop the Central Division with 10 game remaining.

Fuquan Edwin finished the game with a game-high 20 points on 7-11 shooting including 3-4 shooting from behind the arc. Dragic finished with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Twelve of Dragic’s points came in the fourth quarter. Larry Drew II finished with a game-high 11 assists and Shawn Jones finished with a game high 14 rebounds.

Chris Babb and Jason Calliste both finished with a team-high 17 points. Tim Frazier finished with a near triple-double by recording 10 points, nine assists and eight rebounds. Rodney McGruder (16 points) and Romero Osby (12 points) both came off the bench to score in double figures for the Red Claws. On the night, the Red Claws’ bench was outscored 64-39 on the night.

Sioux Falls will now head east to face the Erie BayHawks (17-22) this Thursday and Maine will return home to host the Iowa Energy (21-17) this Friday.