Santa Cruz Warriors Defeat the D-Fenders
November 21, 2015 - NBA G League (G League)
Santa Cruz Warriors News Release
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. - The NBA D-League Champion Santa Cruz Warriors defeated the Los Angeles D-Fenders 106-100 on Friday night at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
Santa Cruz's Elliot Williams notched a game-high 31 points, 15 rebounds, and 8 assists, as Darington Hobson recorded 21 points and 7 rebounds.
The D-Fenders were paced by Vander Blue who posted 22 points and 5 assists. Anthony Brown added 20 points for LA, while Justin Hawkins had 15 points and 8 rebounds in the loss to Santa Cruz.
The game was tight throughout, with 20 lead changes and 10 ties, until Santa Cruz went on a 10-2 run late in the third quarter. Despite turning the ball over 21 times, the Warriors would never relinquish their fourth quarter hold on the D-Fenders, leading by as many as 11 points on the way to a victory.
The Warriors dominated in the paint and on fastbreak opportunities, outscoring the D-Fenders (52-34) and (20-12), respectively. Santa Cruz held the advantage on field goal percentage (54.1% - 37.1%) and rebounds (50-40).
The fourth quarter saw the Warriors play lock-down defense until the final two minutes, when the D-Fenders went on a 6-2 run to cut the lead down to 5 points. Darington Hobson then scored 5 points on back-to-back possessions to put the Warriors up 102-96. LA would never see the lead again, losing to Santa Cruz by 6 points.
"I'm proud of our resolve tonight," Santa Cruz Warriors Head Coach Casey Hill said. "They would go on a run and then we would go down and execute on offense and get a good shot. Today we had a team that is willing to improve and make sacrifices to build chemistry with their teammates."
The Santa Cruz Warriors will travel to Reno to take on the Bighorns on Sunday at 6:00 p.m. PST. Fans can catch the game on the NBA D-League's YouTube channel, via www.santacruzbasketball.com.
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