The Stockton Kings Devin Carter had a hot hand in the first half with 15 points against the Austin Spurs at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on Sat Dec 28, 2024 (Stockton Kings X photo)

By William Espy

SACRAMENTO–The Stockton Kings traveled a bit north, as they hosted the Austin Spurs at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento for Kings Collide night. The matchup also featured the professional debut of Sacramento’s 13th overall pick from this year’s draft, Devin Carter.

Carter’s first stint was short, playing only three minutes, but during that time he went 2-2 and grabbed a rebound before being taken out for Dexter Dennis. The Kings pulled out to an early lead, but the Spurs quickly got the momentum back on their side and tied it up.

From there, Austin pulled out to a 32-25 lead by the end of the first quarter. They were getting quite a bit of scoring from Sidy Cissoko off of the bench, who had 10 points up to that point. Meanwhile, all of the Kings scoring was coming from their starters. Dennis, who had four points, was the only non-starter to score in the first 12 minutes.

By the halfway point of the second quarter, Cissoko was already at 20 points. At one point, the Spurs had a ten-point lead but the Kings tied it up with roughly three minutes left in the first half.

At half-time, the Kings led 62-56. Carter looked like he had missed no time at all, going 6-10 for 15 points in the first half. Stockton needed to find a way to contain Cissoko though, as he was driving a considerable amount of the Spurs’ offense. Kyle Rode was second on Austin with 10 points.

Meanwhile, Stockton already had four players in double digits. Besides Carter, Isaiah Crawford had 12, Terry Taylor had 11, as did Mason Jones. Taylor also had 10 rebounds, giving him a first -half double-double.

Carter’s dominance continued into the third quarter, as he climbed to 29 points roughly four minutes into the frame. After the Kings took a 13-point lead early in the third, the Spurs clawed their way back and tied it up with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter.

At the end of the third, the Kings had a one-point lead, as it was 86-85. Neither team was finding a way to score in the fourth quarter, as halfway through the frame it was a 93-91 lead for the Kings. The Spurs took two late technical fouls which seemed to spark the Kings’ offense a bit.

With 45 seconds remaining, the Spurs cut the Kings’ lead down to a single point. The Kings let the clock run down as much as possible before Carter got the ball to Skal Labissiere in the paint who extended the lead to 109-106 with the game clock and shot clock being pretty much even.

Riley Minix turned it over with just 16 seconds remaining, seemingly giving the victory to Stockton. Things changed when Carter was forced out of bounds with eight seconds left in the game and Austin regained possession.

Jameer Nelson Jr was fouled by Dennis, sending him to the free-throw line with five seconds remaining. He made the first, then missed the second which was rebounded by Carter. In the end, the Kings walked away with a 109-107 win.

The main difference over the course of the night was that the Kings were able to rely on their starters to drive the majority of their offense. Two of the Spurs’ three leading scorers came off of the bench and they had a total of 55 points off of the bench. As a result, only 51 came from their starting five.

The Kings and Spurs will faceoff again Sunday afternoon from Adventist Health Arena in Stockton.