Ants fall to Maine

Mad Antics

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Despite the acquisition of three players from their NBA affiliates, the Mad Ants suffered a 107-104 loss to Maine on Friday at Memorial Coliseum.

The Ants, playing with Miles Plumlee of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons players Khris Middleton and Kim English, let a seven-point fourth-quarter lead slip away.

The Mad Ants battled back to get within the final 107-104 score, and got possession of the ball with an over-and-back call with 13.2 seconds remaining. But three-point attempts by Middleton, Ron Howard and English all missed.

The Ants (2-7) fell even further behind first-place Maine (6-2) in NBA D-League's East Division.

JaJuan Johnson, playing against the Boston Celtics' D-League minor league team, had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Ants. Johnson, the former Purdue All-American, was released by Boston after playing with the Celtics last season.

English added 24 points, and Plumlee had 10 points and 17 rebounds.

The Ants will play Springfield at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.