Henderson’s 28 not enough in loss to St. Louis

Victoria Sun

Thursday, Dec. 23, 1999 | 9:05 a.m.

After a grueling 10-game road trip, the Las Vegas Silver Bandits returned home to host the St. Louis Swarm on Wednesday night at the Thomas & Mack Center.

But without Doug Lee, Ernest Hall and Dexter Boney, who are all out with injuries, the homecourt advantage wasn't enough to help the road-weary Silver Bandits.

Swarm point-guard Lazarus Sims made 4-of-5 3-pointers in the second half to lead the Swarm past the Silver Bandits 105-97 before an estimated crowd of 1,500.

The victory improved the West Division leading Swarm to 8-3 while dropping the Silver Bandits to 3-9.

"Their character is to shoot a lot of 3s and beat you on the perimeter," Silver Bandits coach Rolland Todd said. "They hit a three to start each of their runs.

"Our offense didn't beat us. We defended well in the first half and got away from doing that in the second half."

Still, while Sims had the hot hand, Las Vegas didn't have too many answers with Lee on the bench.

The Silver Bandits made only 4-of-14 shots from long range.

Las Vegas' J.R. Henderson led all scorers with 28 points while Rocky Walls contributed 20 for the Silver Bandits.

In the first half, Henderson and Walls were able to dominate inside while Eric Schraeder knocked down some key jumpers to give the Silver Bandits a 56-48 halftime lead.

It wouldn't last.

Todd decided to rest Schraeder for much of the second half.

While Sims was knocking down his jumpers, another Silver Bandits shooter, Jeff Martin, was only able to make 1-of-4 3-pointers.

"I think we were a little tired, but the main thing is we didn't make our shots," Walls said. "If we had a made a few more shots, it would have been a different game."

After the half, the Swarm made some defensive adjustments to shut Henderson and Walls down.

Although the tandem was not able to penetrate as easily as they did in the first half, a defensive lapse on the other end allowed Doug Smith and Antwain Smith to take over.

Doug Smith scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half and Antwain Smith had nine of his 20.

"The thing that happened to us was that we started out good inside, but our outside shots weren't falling," Walls said. "The second half, they packed in the defense (in the lane) so it was harder for me and J.R. to score.

"It's very discouraging. It's not one of those losses that we say, 'Oh, no. Our whole season is over.' But coming off that road trip, we wanted to win that game at home."

The teams were tied 78-78 after three quarters when Sims pulled up for a 3-pointer that sparked a 11-2 run that sealed the win.

Las Vegas will host New Mexico Sunday at 7 p.m. before it goes on a seven-game road trip.