FORT WAYNE, Ind. – March 11, 2023 – Motor City led from opening tip to final horn on Saturday night in Fort Wayne, topping the Mad Ants 132-102.

Keifer Sykes led the way against his former team, scoring a game high 34 points.

Motor City opened up the game on a 5-0 run before Gabe York struck first for Fort Wayne to end the early drought. With 5:39 left in the opening quarter, a Keifer Sykes bucket extended the Motor City lead to 18-10, followed by a David Nwaba dunk to push the lead to double digits for the first time for the Cruise. After one, Motor City had built a 39-19 lead as Fort Wayne shot just 26.1 percent from the field compared to the Cruise’s 50 percent.

With 8:15 to play in the second quarter, a Motor City steal lead to a Ryan Turrell three pointer that pushed the Cruise lead to 51-27. The Mad Ants pushed back with 6:30 to play on a York three followed by a basket inside from Jermaine Samuels Jr. and a three from David Stockton to cut the Motor City lead back down to 20 at 57-37. With one minute to play, a ShawnDre Jones pullup pushed the Motor City lead all the way to 71-41 and they would lead 76-46 at the half behind Sykes’ 26 points.

The third quarter was a back and forth affair, with Motor City going up 98-59 with 2:27 left on a Sykes dunk off the alley oop pass from Jones. After three, Motor City’s lead was 102-66.

Motor City pushed their lead to 40 with 9:20 left in the game on a Nwaba make. The Mad Ants would hit the 100 point mark with 1:35 to play on a Tevin Brown layup, but still trailed 129-100.

The Cruise were led by Sykes’ 34, followed by 22 from Jones and 21 out of Reggie Perry.

Leading the way for Fort Wayne was Anderson’s 26 and a 14 point, 10 rebound outing from Samuels Jr.