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Toko Shengelia leads Springfield Armor to first blowout win

Springfield Armor

It seems Toko Shengelia has never had a bad game in the D-League. Basically, he owns Springfield, not the Hall of Fame but the MassMutual Center. On Sunday afternoon, less than 17 hours after losing to the Sioux Falls SkyForce, the Armor took the court and put a beating on the Maine Red Claws, the Celtics farm team.

In 10 games prior to his most recent assignment with the Armor, Shengelia averaged 24.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 36.6 minutes per game. He holds the Armor one-game scoring record with 39, set last season. On Saturday, he scored only 11, but on five shots. Then on Sunday, he scored 23 to go with six rebounds and two assists as the Armor beat the Red Claws 93-74, for their second win in 11 games.  Joining him upfront was Willie Reed, the Armor's 6'10" center who scored 19 points and grabbed eight boards. Reed has scored 40 points in the last two games ... with a delegation of Nets execs present.

Shengelia was 7-of-13 overall, 8-of-0 from the free-throw line and scored 10 of his 23 in the fourth quarter.

"That's what we expect from him when he comes down, just to continually get better and be able to help the team get better as well," Reed said. "Whenever Toko comes down here, it's definitely good."

Nursing a 14-point lead, the Armor offense exploded for 29 points in the third quarter, stretching the lead to as large as 26 in the period before entering the fourth quarter with a 73-53 advantage. Reed, Shengelia and Gary Forbes all reached double figures by the end of the third.

Tyshawn Taylor, who had seven turnovers, played only 19 minutes, scoring three points on 1-of-3 shooting.