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AUSTIN CONVENTION CENTER - Though overshadowed by the first day of the NBA Playoffs, the Austin Toros and Rio Grande Valley Vipers went out on Saturday afternoon to prove the D-League Playoffs are worthy of your attention too.

Curtis Jerrells scored 30 points, including two free throws with six seconds left, to lead the Toros to the 122-120 victory at the Austin Convention Center. The Toros must win one of two games in Hidalgo, either Game 2 on Monday or Game 3 on Wednesday, to move onto the D-League Finals, where they would face the winner of the Tulse 66ers-Iowa Energy series.

“It was awesome,” Toros head coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “A lot of emotion on both sides.”

Big men were scarce in this game and as a result, both teams sped up the pace. In fact, neither team scored below 26 points in a quarter. The lack of inside players also meant both teams’ guards were able to consistently get to the middle. Countering Jerrells’ 30 points, Vipers point guard Will Conroy scored 26 of his own.

The constant penetration, along with good ball movement on both sides, led to open looks from 3-point range. Rio Grande Valley shot 10-21 (48%) from 3-point range, and the Toros were 15-31 (48%). If the Toros are to win the series, they need to shoot the ball nearly as well in the remaining games as they did in Game 1.

They’d also like to get a solid effort out of Alonzo Gee. After Game 2 of the Toros’ series against the Dakota Wizards, Toros head coach Quin Snyder said that he expected more out of Gee. On Saturday afternoon, he got a excellent performance from the Spurs’ swingman, as Gee scored 24 points (on 9-16 from the field) and grabbed eight rebounds, to go along with three steals and two blocked shots.

One block in particular stuck out for Snyder, when Gee viciously blocked a shot as he rolled over in help defense from the weak side of the floor. The block ended up in the hands of Curtis Jerrells, who got the ball up the floor in the hurry and ended with a put-back dunk from Eddie Basden. That play engaged the crowd more than any other play that afternoon.

“It was off the ball. He was helping the team,” Quin Snyder said. “His biggest thing in my mind right now is playing without the ball, whether that be on offense or on defense.”

Now the Toros have the advantage in the series, but there is work to be done. They have to win one of two games, both on the road, against the team that finished first in the West Conference in the regular season and went 5-2 against the Toros.