The Osceola Magic fell to the Indiana Mad Ants 127-119 at Osceola Heritage Park Friday night. Daeqwon Plowden had 22 points and six rebounds on 61% shooting from the field and 66% from three-point range.
“It was a game where we had to grind it out,” Plowden said. “We had two starters out tonight, but everybody has to be prepared. We’re excited that we’ve clinched the first seed in the East; we’ve put in a lot of hard work. We’re resilient, but we need to learn to come back when we’re down.”
The Magic jumped to an early 6-2 lead in the first quarter but trailed for the rest of the game. Osceola mounted a fourth-quarter rally and outscored Indiana 44-32, but it ultimately fell short. Osceola’s bench outscored Indiana’s 46-30 but lost the rebounding battle 51-38.
Tre Scott had 20 points off the bench on 87.5% shooting from the field and 80% from beyond the arc in the loss.
“It meant a lot for the coach to trust in me and give me a lot of minutes,” Scott said. “I’m the new guy joining this established team that’s in first place in the East. It’s an honor to see that the coach and the organization feel this way about me. Everyone on this team is a phenomenal player, it can be anyone’s night. Everyone on this team will fight and try to make each player better.”
