Tag: Sioux Falls Skyforce

Guard Mason Jones of the Stockton Kings led in scoring with 28 points, two rebounds, and 12 assists against the visiting Sioux Falls Skyforce at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton on Wed Mar 26, 2025 (Stockton Kings X photo)

By William Espy

STOCKTON–The Stockton Kings hosted the Sioux Falls Skyforce in their final home game of the regular season on Wednesday night. Entering the night, the Kings had already clinched a playoff berth with three total games remaining. Despite that, they were in a fight to win the #1 seed, which would give them a major advantage in the postseason.

Meanwhile, the Skyforce were trying to chase down the Santa Cruz Warriors, who currently hold the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Both teams had playoff implications riding on the outcome of this game, which meant it should be a competitive one.

After Jon Elmore gave the fans in attendance a short thank-you message, the game got underway. Mason Jones got the Kings on the board to start the night with a quick three-pointer. Although the Kings pulled out to a quick lead, it was short-lived as the Skyforce fought back to tie it up just a couple of minutes later.

While the Skyforce kept it close for a few minutes, the Kings quickly got out to their biggest lead of the night so far around the halfway point of the first quarter, when they led 16-9. Terry Taylor gave the Kings a 34-24 lead a the end of the quarter, with a thunderous putback dunk right before the clock expired.

The Kings kept extending their lead into the second quarter, making it 51-38 at the halfway point of the second frame. By the end of the quarter, it seemed that we were on our way to a blowout as the Kings had a commanding lead heading into halftime. They were up 67-48 with 24 minutes remaining in the game.

Sioux Falls slowly started cutting into the lead in the third quarter, but weren’t able to make much of a dent into it. Mason Jones was given a technical foul halfway through the third, and with the free throw, the Skyforce cut the Kings’ lead to 13. By the end of the quarter, though, the Kings got it back to 17, and led 96-79.

The final quarter was more of the same, as the Kings maintained their lead for the most part but the Skyforce had a few runs of their own as they looked to cut into the lead. Ultimately, they’d be unable to do so, and Stockton would walk away victorious with a final score of 122-106. Mason Jones led the way in scoring with 28 points for the Kings, but Terry Taylor and Isaac Jones weren’t far behind with 23 of their own. Josh Christopher led the way for the Skyforce with 26 points.

Stockton Kings guard Chasson Randle (4) takes the ball against the Sioux Falls Skyforce at Adventist Health Center in Stockton on Sat Mar 1, 2025

By William Espy

STOCKTON–The Stockton Kings were back at it on Saturday night as they hosted the Sioux Falls SkyForce at Adventist Health Arena in Stockton. Kings had to really hold off the SkyForce in the end to get the win 117-98.

The two teams were evenly matched in the first quarter. Although the Kings led for most of the first 12 minutes, the SkyForce only allowed them to get out to a six point lead at most throughout the quarter. By the end of the period, the Kings maintained their lead but it was just a two-point lead as the SkyForce had crawled back into it. Stockton led 26-24 heading into the second quarter.

The second frame was much different than the first. It didn’t take long for Stockton to start extending their lead. With three minutes remaining in the first half, the Kings got their first double-digit lead of the night and they weren’t done yet. When the second quarter came to an end, Stockton had a 14 point lead, as it was 56-42 heading into the break. If the SkyForce were going to get back into the games, they’d need to make some changes very quickly.

Those changes didn’t come though, as although the SkyForce looked a bit more competitive, they weren’t able to reduce the Kings’ lead at all. Stockton continued to pull away, and heading into the final frame of the night they led 86-64. The game felt like it was already over, but the Kings needed to make sure they didn’t get overconfident as they had a few times this season.

Sioux Falls would outscore the Kings in the fourth quarter, the only time they accomplished that over the course of the night, but Stockton held on to win 117-98. Isaiah Crawford led the Kings in scoring with 25 points, while Devin Carter was right behind him with 24 of his own.

Meanwhile for Sioux Falls, the two Williams, Malik and Alondes led with 18 and 17 points respectively.

The Kings currently sit second in the Western Conference behind just the Austin Spurs and will be back in action on Tuesday when they host the Valley Suns, once again at home.