Stockton Kings guard Boogie Ellis (5) faces the Mexico City Capitanes at Arena CDMX in Mexico City. Ellis scored eight points on Sun Feb 2, 2025 (Stockton Kings X photo)
By William Espy
The Stockton Kings continued their season, heading south of the border. They visited the Mexico City Capitanes in Arena CDMX, in Mexico City, Mexico for the first of two games between the two teams.
The Kings were without a couple of key players including Skal Labissiere and Isaac Jones, while Mexico City was missing Trey Burke from their lineup.
The Capitanes got off to a hot start, leading 34-20 after the first 12 minutes. Momentum swung in the Kings’ favor in the second quarter, as they outscored the Capitanes 34-23, but they still trailed on the scoreboard 57-54.
In the second half, momentum went back to the Capitanes however the Kings were still keeping it fairly close. The third quarter was lower scoring than either of the first two, as the Capitanes outscored Stockton 26-21, extending their lead to 83-75. A win was still within reach for the Kings, but they needed to have a dominant fourth quarter.
Ultimately, that wouldn’t happen. The Capitanes would once again outscore the Kings in the fourth quarter, and walked away with a 106-96 victory.
Shots simply weren’t falling for Stockton, as they shot 39.6% from the field over the course of the night. Terry Taylor, Colby Jones and Dexter Dennis all struggled with efficiency. Taylor went 9-19, Jones was 6-16 and Dennis finished the night 6-17 from the field. Had they each hit two more of their shots, Stockton would’ve walked out victorious.
The Kings struggled defensively when Boogie Ellis was on the court, as he had a team-worst -20 on the night and Brian Bowen II was a -18.
The aforementioned Taylor did finish with a double-double though, scoring 21 and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Mexico City’s shooting percentage wasn’t much better than Stockton’s, at 45.6%, but the difference was certainly enough to get them the win. David Jones Garcia recorded a double-double of his own, with a game-leading 23 points and 10 rebounds. He went 10-15 from the field, and was a major part of the reason that his team was able to walk away with a win.
The Kings and Capitanes will face off once again on Tuesday night, once again from Mexico’s capital city. Stockton’s performances have started to dip recently, and if they want to continue holding off the Austin Spurs at the top of the Western Conference, they’re going to need to find their rhythm from the beginning of the season sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, the Capitanes have now passed the Santa Cruz Warriors for third in the Western Conference and could find themselves fighting for the top spot very soon.
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