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 – Tony Mitchell made 8 of 16 shots, including 6 of 9 from three-point range, in leading the Mad Ants to a 119-98 victory over the Iowa Energy on Saturday night in front of 5,619 fans at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
Mitchell finished with 25 points.
Fort Wayne (15-17) made 13 of 26 three-pointers, while Iowa (7-21) made only 5 of 25.
Doron Lamb scored 24 points, including 9-of-14 shooting, 4 of 6 from beyond the arc.
Ron Howard added 21 points for the Mad Ants, who trailed by five points after the first quarter but then went on a 62-41 run to take control of the game.
Iowa’s Paul Harris scored 26 points, after making 10 of his 18 shots.
The Mad Ants made 47.1 percent of their shots in the game, while the Energy was limited to 36.8-percent shooting.
Led by 11 rebounds apiece from Brandon Wallace and Tommy Smith, the Mad Ants out-rebounded the Energy 55-48.
The Mad Ants played without Luke Harangody, Miles Plumlee and Chris Porter, but they still got nine players in the scoring column.
Former Fort Wayne player Jarrid Famous had a team-best 10 rebounds to go with his five points for Iowa.
