:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57841525/LI_Nets_scoreboard.0.jpg)
Milton Doyle shot less than 33 percent overall and Isaiah Whitehead hurt his hip requiring him to leave the game, but the Long Island Nets won their fourth straight game Sunday, beating the Raptors 905 in the G-League Game of the Week. Final score: Long Island 95, Raptors, 88.
It’s the longest winning streak in Long Island’s two seasons. At 8-4, tied with the Westchester Knicks for the top spot in the G-League’s Atlantic Division.
Doyle scored 14 points, shooting 5-of-18 overall and 2-of-10 from downtown, but had a double-double in points and rebounds for the second straight game, garnering 11 boards in 32 minutes to go along with 14 points. The 6’4” combo guard also had three assists. Raptors coach Jerry Stackhouse had Aaron Best hound Doyle throughout the second half, keeping him well short of his 25 point average over the last four games.
Whitehead played only 18 minutes and scored 10 points. He went down hard in the third. When he got up, he pointed to his right hip as trainer Shanice Johnson accompanied him to the Long Island locker room. He didn’t return to the court and there’s been no update on his condition.
Long Island got solid defensive games from Tajhere McCall, the 6’5” swingman out of Tennessee State, and Prince Ibeh, the 6’11” center out of Texas. McCall had three steals, but was active throughout the game on D. He’s gotten a reputation as a defensive standout with his teammates calling him the “PatBev of the G-League,” a reference to Patrick Beverly. Ibeh blocked three shots including two on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter, one a dramatic swat of a three-point shot from the corner.
Jacob Wiley, one of the Nets two-way contracts, finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting off the bench. French shooting guard Yakuba Outtara, the Nets other two-way, missed his 11th straight game with a leg injury. Kamari Murphy, Whitehead’s high school teammate at Lincoln in Coney Island, led the Nets with 16.
The home team led 50-42 at the half, with as much as a 10-point lead at one point. The Nets led the entire second half for the fourth consecutive game. After taking an eight-point lead into the fourth quarter, they were outscored 22-21 by the Raptors in the final period but came away with the seven-point victory.