Brandon Ingram leads the Pelicans past the Kings 127-117 to advance to In-Season Tournament semis #Brandon #Ingram #leads #Pelicans #Kings #advance #InSeason #Tournament #semis

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Brandon Ingram scored 30 points and the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Sacramento Kings 127-117 on Monday night in the quarterfinals of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.

Ingram helped New Orleans erase an early deficit and the Pelicans never trailed in the second half as they advanced to play the winner of Tuesday night’s game between Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers in the semifinals Thursday in Las Vegas.

Herb Jones added 23 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 18 to give the Pelicans their third win over Sacramento in the past two weeks.

De’Aaron Fox scored 30 points and Domantas Sabonis added 26 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for the Kings. Sacramento lost for the first time in the tournament after sweeping all four games in group play.

There was good energy from the sellout crowd, with many fans wearing blue T-shirts handed out to give the In-Season Tournament a playoff feel.

The intensity carried over to the court, with Sacramento’s Trey Lyles getting into a dustup with Valanciunas in the first half that earned him a technical foul.

The Kings made 12 of their first 14 shots to take a 32-17 lead before going cold during a 28-5 run spanning the first two quarters for the Pelicans. Sacramento missed 16 of 18 shots from the field during the spurt.

New Orleans built its lead to 15 in the third quarter before Sacramento started to chip away. The Kings got within six midway through the fourth before the Pelicans scored nine straight points to put the game away.

Valanciunas made a hook shot and Trey Murphy hit a 3-pointer before Ingram and Jones each made a pair of free throws for New Orleans.