THE VALLEY Suns may have fallen five points short of the Mexico City Capitanes, but point guard TyTy Washington Jr. dominated with a triple-double when the two sides went head to head at Arena CDMX on Thursday.

The Suns are firming for a postseason appearance, sitting in fifth spot coming into the clash with 19 wins to their name having put together an impressive campaign to-date. On the other hand, the Capitanes desperately needed a win, sitting four victories behind sixth spot in the Western Conference, and in danger of falling out of the race for the playoffs.

The first half was going as expected, with the Suns building a solid five-point lead by the time the main change rolled around. However, the Capitanes did lift in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, where they outscored Valley 29-20 to complete the comeback and claim a four-point triumph, keeping their season alive in the process.

Although the team result was not ideal, Washington Jr. can hold his head high, with the 23-year-old posting a triple-double and doing a bit of everything to try and drag his side over the line.

Valley Suns (100) def. by Mexico City Capitanes (105)

TyTy Washington Jr. – 22 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists, three steals

Washington Jr. was the most dominant player on the court overall, stuffing the stat sheet and having a seriously positive impact for the Suns whenever he was on the floor.

He registered the first score of the game with a smooth pull-up shot from mid-range to get the Suns on the board, before backing it up with a crafty reverse layup in transition just a couple of plays later to get off to the perfect start.

The first quarter also saw Washington Jr. record his first assists of the game, with the highlight coming in the form of a perfectly weighted leading pass to a cutting teammate, showing how well he sees the offence in half court sets.

In transition, he often ran parallel to the ball carrier, freeing himself up in the open court and generating plenty of scores when cutting to the basket, where he is clever with his body to avoid contact from the closing defender.

Washington Jr. had back to back dimes to finish the third quarter and help the Suns reestablish their buffer at the final change. The first was a clever no-look bounce pass under the hoop to a cutting teammate, who promptly threw down the slam, and the second pass was a well-timed lob over the top of the defensive coverage to finish off the third quarter in style.

Although the Suns were overrun in the fourth quarter, it was still a marvellous performance from Washington Jr., who saw the game better than anyone else. He finished with 22 points on 8/19 shooting from the field to go with his 11 rebounds and 11 assists. Although it was an off night from behind the arc (0/6 3PT), he was still able to lead the Suns’ offence tremendously.