Billy Thomas was playing with the Dakota Wizards when he received his first NBA call-up, back in 2005. So among all the places his pro basketball places has taken him, Bismarck does stand out.

 

But Thomas didn’t have any mixed emotions about coming back to haunt his old team on Saturday night. The veteran guard scored 18 points to lead the expansion Maine Red Claws to their first victory ever, 107-97, spoiling Dakota’s season-opener.

 

“Every time I come back here, there’s always been a soft spot in my heart for this place,” Thomas said. “The first opportunity I got to make it to the NBA was from here. I hold this place and the fans to my heart.

 

“At the same time, the nature of the business is to try to come here and take care of business.”

 

Thomas did just that, knocking down 4 of 5 from beyond the arc, including one with 4.8 seconds left to punctuate the win. Thomas, who was the first player to join the Red Claws and who scored the first points in franchise history in Friday’s loss to Sioux Falls, enjoyed the moment.

 

“It’s very speical,” Thomas said. “It’s a class organization over there. They’re really taking care of us.”

 

In a game that was tight all the way — 16 lead changes, 12 ties — Thomas helped the Claws put together a 14-0 run in the final five minutes. That turned a 94-90 deficit into a 104-94 lead.

 

“He’s our team leader, he’s our team captain, and he keeps our guys together,” Maine coach Austin Ainge said. “He kept us all together. He plays defense, and he makes shots and he’s just a smart guy.”

Coach Rory White, whose team came up short in his Wizards’ debut, said fatigue was the deciding factor.

 

“Conditioning played a part of it, right from the beginning of the game,” White said. “They played in Sioux Falls (on Friday), they had to travel, we didn’t jump on them early and they smelled blood. They knew they had an opportunity to steal one, and they did.”

 

The Wizards got a strong game from first-round draft pick Curtis Withers, who had 22 points on 8-for-11 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds. Romel Beck chipped in 16.

 

But it wasn’t enough to offset a big fourth quarter by Maine’s Bill Walker. The 6-foot-6 forward, on assignment from the Boston Celtics, battled foul trouble all night. But despite picking up his fifth foul with 8:25 to play, Walker scored 12 of his 19 points in the final period.

 

“I just felt like I’d been taking him in and out all game,” Ainge said. “I figured if I’m going to get anything out of him, I ought to let him get a little rhythm. He hit a couple of big shots for us.

 

“It was a little bit of a gamble, but it really paid off this time.”

Walker scored half the points in the 14-0 run that sealed the Wizards’ fate.

 

“Either I’m going to foul out, or I’m going to play the game,” Walker said. “The whole game I was trying to tell the refs that they were not really fouls. ... It was just gut-check time. We got embarrassed in Sioux Falls.”

 

Both teams went on a 3-point frenzy early in the fourth quarter, highlighted by David Bell sinking three treys in a span of 2:38. The last of those gave the Wizards a 94-90 lead with 5:06 to play.

But Dakota’s offense went into hibernation after that.

 

“We didn’t get to our spots,” White said. “We drew up a couple of plays, and you could just tell the way the guys were walking around that they didn’t get to their spots precisely.”

 

n OUCH: Dakota’s Marcus Dove jammed a finger, perhaps breaking it, and didn’t play after the first quarter. The 6-9 forward had three points and two rebounds in 12 minutes.

 

“It hurt us not having Marcus Dove to go to,” White said. “We had to go small a lot.”

 

NOTES: Former Wizards coach Duane Ticknor, now an assistant with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, watched the game from courtside. The Skyforce play the Wizards today at 3 p.m. ... Despite all their success over the years, especially at the Civic Center, the Wizards are just 7-8 in home openers and 6-9 in season openers. ... The Wizards have begun 13 of their 15 seasons at home.

 

Maine    25    48     75    107

 

Wizards    21    48     76    97

 

MAINE (107): Bill Walker 6-11 5-5 19, Anthony Terrell 5-7 2-4 12, Darnell Lazare 6-12 0-0 12, Billy Thomas 6-10 2-2 18, Abdulai Jalloh 3-5 2-2 8, Will Blalock 2-3 1-2 6, Tony Bobbitt 5-6 5-5 18, Noel Felix 3-6 1-2 7, Stanley Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Mike Williams 3-5 1-2 7, Gary Ervin 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 39-68 19-24 107.

 

WIZARDS (97): Romel Beck 5-14 3-4 16, Curtis Withers 8-11 6-9 22, Marcus Dove 1-2 1-2 3, David Bell 3-7 4-6 13, Maurice Baker 5-14 2-2 13, Jimmy Binnie 3-6 0-0 7, Renaldo Major 2-7 7-7 11, Jason Straight 3-6 2-2 10, D’Lancy Carter 1-2 0-0 2, Darren Cooper 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-69 25-32 97.

 

3-pointers: M 10-14 (B. Thomas 4-5, Bobbitt 3-3, Walker 2-4, Blalock 1-1, S. Thomas 0-1), W 10-23 (Bell 3-5, Beck 3-9, Straight 2-3, Binnie 1-2, Baker 1-4, Dove 0-1). Rebounds: M 33 (Walker 8), W 28 (Withers 9). Assists: M 20 (Blalock 8), W 18 (Baker 4, Major 4). Fouls: M 23, W 21. Technical fouls: W 2 _ coach Rory White, defensive 3 seconds. Steals: M 9 (B. Thomas 3), W 7 (Beck 3). Turnovers: M 18, W 14. Blocked shots: M 4 (Lazare 2).

 

A: 3,785.

 

Records: M 1-1; W 0-1.