For the first time in their six-year history as a member of the NBA Development League, the Mad Ants not only had a winning regular season record (27-23), but also qualified for the playoffs as the No. 6 seed.FORT WAYNE – When: 7:30 p.m. today
Where: Memorial Coliseum
Records: Mad Ants 6-10, Santa Cruz 9-3
Web cast:
Mad Ants leaders: Ron Howard (21.3 ppg), Luke Harangody (13.0 rpg), Howard (4.2 apg)
Santa Cruz leaders: Travis Leslie (16.1 ppg), Leslie (8.2 rpg), Stefhon Hannah (4.2 apg)
Key matchup: Hannah, the Warriors’ 6-foot-1 guard out of Missouri, finished with 27 points in the Ants’ 102-86 win over Santa Cruz on Thursday. Of the 27, Hannah scored 23 in the first quarter. At one time, he scored 20 consecutive points for the Warriors. After going 9 for 9 from the floor, he went 1 of 11 the rest of the way. Still, the Ants cannot let Hannah get off to that kind of start again.
The skinny: The Ants will be without 6-5 guard Orlando Johnson, who returned to the Indiana Pacers on Friday. Johnson scored 25 points and handed out six assists in Thursday’s win, the Ants’ third in a row. The Pacers elected to keep center Miles Plumlee with the Ants, however. He had nine points and nine rebounds Thursday. Also, the Ants had an off night from Harangody. The former Notre Dame forward was 4 of 15 from the floor and had eight points and nine boards.
