“It feels good to win,” Conroy said of the victory. “This is our first two-game win streak this year and we’re going in the right direction as a team. Even though we got off the plane late last night, we came out and got a W – it feels great.”

The Thunderbirds, on the back of Conroy’s 26-point, 11-assist effort and Keith McLeod’s 24 points, outscored Sioux Falls 71-40 during the second and third periods to earn the win.

The Skyforce dominated the first period, as the team got off to a hot start and never relinquished the leading, finishing the quarter up by 11, 33-22. Keith Brumbaugh dominated the period scoring 12 of his team’s 33 points. In the second quarter, Albuquerque fought back to lead by as many as eight points before settling for a six-point half-time deficit, 59-53.

Sioux Falls was led by Gary Forbes who came off of the bench to score 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting. Forbes was complimented by teammates Bobby Jones and Keith Brumbaugh, who each scored 15 in the loss.

The Thunderbirds improve to 4-10 on the season, while Sioux Falls falls to 10-6. Both teams continue action at the 2009 NBA D-League Showcase this week, with Albuquerque matching up against the Erie BayHawks and the Skyforce taking on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, both on Wednesday, Jan. 7.

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