SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (Interstat) — The San Diego Clippers built a commanding early lead and withstood multiple comeback attempts to defeat the Memphis Hustle 116-105 in a G League contest Friday night at DeSoto Civic Center.

The Clippers seized control from the opening tip, racing to a 29-21 lead after the first quarter and extending it to a 59-51 advantage by halftime. San Diego’s offensive execution was sharp early, particularly from beyond the arc, as they consistently found answers to prevent Memphis from ever drawing even.

San Diego improved to 18-16 with the victory, while Memphis fell to 10-21.

The most pivotal stretch of the game occurred late in the fourth quarter after Memphis had whittled a large deficit down to a manageable margin. Leading 103-97 with under a minute to play, the Clippers saw their possession nearly end in disaster with an 8-second violation. However, they immediately forced a Memphis turnover, and Taylor Funk sank two critical free throws with 44 seconds remaining to push the lead back to eight points.

The game’s final minute was marred by a double technical foul and ejections. With 8 seconds on the clock, San Diego’s Zach Freemantle and Memphis’ Evan Gilyard were ejected following a confrontation after a foul was called on Funk. Memphis’ Lawson Lovering made both ensuing free throws to cut the lead to 105-103, but the Clippers closed the game on an 11-2 run, punctuated by a Funk 3-pointer and steady free-throw shooting, to secure the win.

The Clippers’ scoring was balanced across all four quarters, with 30 points in both the second and fourth periods. Memphis, despite a 30-point second quarter of its own, could not overcome its slow start or contain San Diego’s offense in key moments.

The two teams will meet again at the same venue Sunday.

The outcome defied a pregame statistical projection from Interstat, which gave Memphis a 58 percent probability to win based on its ELO rating system, though the final score was closer to the simulator’s prediction of a 121-100 San Diego victory.