By Oscar Heanue
RotoWire
The Indiana Pacers staved off a furious fourth-quarter comeback attempt Friday to defeat the Orlando Blue, 85-79, in the seventh-place game at the Orlando Summer League at Amway Center.
The Pacers led throughout, jumping to a 37-29 halftime lead before pushing the advantage to as many as 20 points early in the fourth quarter. That’s when Orlando rallied. Trailing 68-48 with 8:38 remaining, the Blue outscored the Pacers, 30-13 over the next seven minutes to pull to within 81-78 on a 3-pointer by Nick Johnson with 1:15 to play. That was as close as they would get, however, as they made just one free throw in final minute.
Glenn Robinson III led Indiana (2-3) with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Shayne Wittington added 12 points and five rebounds off the bench, as the Pacers shot 48.5 percent from the field and made 6 of 12 from 3-point range.
Johnson, who plays for the D-League Austin Spurs, paced Orlando (1-4) with 20 points, 12 coming in the fourth quarter. Okaro White totaled 11 points and seven rebounds, but the Blue were outworked on the glass, 41-20.
