By RotoWire

Talk about a thriller.

Despite giving away a five-point first half lead, and trailing by as many as five points with just a minute remaining, Wizard District Gaming mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback, collecting a nail-biting 62-60 win Wednesday over Grizz Gaming during Day 2 of THE TIPOFF powered by AT&T.

The matchup was initially billed as a battle between two bigs, with Grizz Gaming’s Authentic African and Wizards District Gaming’s Dayfri, who was making his franchise debut, expected to provide plenty of fireworks in the paint.

That certainly seemed to be the case in the first half as the two combined for 16 points, as each player led their respective team with eight points after the first 12 minutes. The storyline quickly dissolved in the second half, however, as a pair of rookies made their impact on the game.

Despite trailing by five points entering the second half, Grizz Gaming and company almost immediately took advantage of the contest, racing out to a 6-0 advantage en route to a decisive 17-8 third quarter. Chalk that up almost entirely to the heroics of rookie shooting guard Jayrod, who scored 12 of his 19 points in the aforementioned quarter alone thanks to a trio of three pointers.

Grizz Gaming continued to hold a sizable lead entering the final minutes of the fourth quarter before a bevy of missed free throws and critical turnovers inexplicably let Wizards District Gaming back into the contest. With just under five seconds remaining and Grizz Gaming up by 1, Jayrod missed a critical free throw which set the stage for District Gaming’s leader and point guard, DemonJT, to connect on a game-tying mid-range shot.

Considering Demon JT passed up what appeared to be a wide open triple on the play, it looked as if the vociferous guard made a critical error. However Wizards District Gaming intercepted an inbounds pass from ToXsiK and immediately called a timeout, setting the stage for an unlikely game-winning basket by another rookie, UserPick, whose savvy pump fake opened up just enough wiggle room to sink the point-blank bucket.

UserPick tallied 13 points in his first game in the NBA 2K League, but it was ReeseDaGod’s 17 points and 10 assists that proved ultimately crucial in the win, particularly with Demon JT locked down for most of the contest.