The Red Claws left the court at halftime with momentum solidly behind them. In the waning moments of the second quarter, Malcolm Miller swatted a shot as if he were spiking a volleyball and followed up with an alley-oop dunk.

And although it didn’t count because the buzzer already had sounded, Marcus Thornton sank a shot from beyond midcourt to give the Portland Expo fans a jolt.

Malcolm Miller of the Red Claws goes up for a shot against Ramon Harris of the Iowa Energy during Maine’s 123-106 loss Friday night at the Portland Expo.

The third quarter, however, was nearly all Iowa. The Energy forced 11 turnovers, sank half a dozen 3-pointers and cruised to a 123-106 NBA Development League victory over the Red Claws on Friday night before a crowd of 2,399.

It was the second straight loss for the Red Claws (28-17) and, not coincidentally, the second straight without point guard Tim Frazier and forward Coty Clarke, both of whom are now playing under 10-day NBA contracts with New Orleans and the Celtics, respectively.

The Claws turned the ball over 21 times Friday night and managed only four steals themselves – all of them from Omari Johnson, who also contributed 18 points and 10 rebounds.

He opened the third quarter with a 3-pointer to give Maine a 63-58 lead, but Iowa took over from there thanks to a 20-8 run and entered the fourth with a 94-77 lead.

The Red Claws came no closer than 13 points the rest of the way as James Ennis poured in 30 for Iowa and Andrew Harrison had 21.

“Number one, our turnovers were just horrendous,” said Red Claws Coach Scott Morrison.

“They had 36 points off turnovers and we had six. And then, they hit some tough shots. I thought our defense was actually a little better in the third than it was in the first half.”

The Red Claws led 21-20 late in the first quarter when, during a timeout, the Expo video screen showed highlights of Frazier’s debut with the Pelicans on Wednesday, a 123-108 victory in which he had 14 points, nine assists, three rebounds and no turnovers – all before his first practice with New Orleans.

Shortly thereafter, Iowa Coach Bob Donewald Jr. was called for a technical and ejected, leaving assistant coach Matt Woodley in charge.

“We really wanted to pressure the ball,” said Woodley, who saw the Energy lose 115-101 at the Expo two weeks ago with Frazier and Clarke in the lineup. “We were trying to switch (on picks) to eliminate the 3-point shot. They’re going to make them, so if you can (reduce) their attempts, that kind of helps.”

Indeed, Iowa held a 22-21 advantage in 3-point attempts through three quarters and wound up making 14 for the game to Maine’s 11.

“We were really trying to switch everything hard and make them put the ball on the floor,” Woodley said. “We switched on Omari Johnson to make him go in the post, to make Andre Stringer drive and finish, to make Corey Walden drive and finish.”

Coron Williams scored 10 of his 14 points in the final quarter, but Iowa matched Maine basket for basket.

“Williams got away from us a couple times in the fourth quarter,” Woodley said. “That’s going to happen. They’re that good. We just wanted to make them do something that we hadn’t really seen on film.”

Levi Randolph led the Claws with 28 points, 15 rebounds and five assists. Miller added 23 points and three blocks.

“We’ve got to take care of the ball better,” Randolph said. “That’s the biggest thing. I don’t think it was any one player. It was the team.”

For the second straight game, only eight Red Claws played. Free agent pickup Melvin Johnson joined the team Friday, and Morrison expects him to play Sunday against Raptors 905.

“Guys who aren’t playing, they want more minutes,” Morrison said. “So here’s their chance. We’ve got a couple guys who aren’t taking advantage of the opportunity right now.”

Ralph Sampson III grabbed five rebounds and scored three points in almost 11 minutes of action, his first since injuring his left wrist in early February.

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