Santa Cruz Warriors Cruise Past Reno in Preseason Action

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz Warriors put on quite the show at Kaiser Permanente Arena in their one and only preseason game, blowing out Pacific Division rival, the Reno Bighorns, 133-94.

Much like their affiliate Golden State Warriors, Santa Cruz “cruised” their way to a blowout after shooting a scorching hot 69.8 percent from the field in the first half.

After the game, head coach Casey Hill praised his team for the ball movement they displayed (39 assists to Reno’s 15), which resulted in a number of open looks throughout the course of the game.

“The starting lineup really showed a willingness to pass the basketball,” Hill said. “Bringing new guys into the system is always a little bit of a question mark as to whether or not they’re gonna be willing to move the basketball, and we showed tonight that we’re willing to move the basketball and find open guys and play unselfishly.”

While their ball movement was certainly incredible and there was really nothing to complain about in terms of their shooting by night’s end (56.7 percent from the field, 9-for-16 from behind the arc), Hill admitted he felt there were still a few things in their defense that still needed to be improved.

“I thought defensively we were good,” said Hill. “There were some holes in our defense that we still need to close up. Obviously the system that Reno was playing didn’t allow us to do a couple things defensively, but we did a couple things today I thought we showed some potential with.

“Overall, I’m pretty pleased.”

6-foot-7 wingman Darington Hobson, a returning player for Santa Cruz, was the visible leader early, dropping in eight points, five rebounds and three assists in just the first quarter of play. He would play a total 26 minutes, finishing with 14 points, 11 boards and five assists on 5-for-10 shooting.

When asked whether he felt situated into his role as one of the leaders of the team, the 28-year-old responded confidently, saying it was one of the main talking points between him and Coach Hill prior to the start of training camp.

“That was something we talked about when I decided to come back,” Hobson said. “That was the first thing he brought up — it wasn’t about offense, defense, or what I need to do on the court; it was just about leadership.

“I’ve been here before, I know what it takes to win, how he expects us to play,” he continued on saying, assertive with his words. “He just wanted me to be a leader to these guys because I understand the system and I know what it takes.”

D-League veteran Maurice Baker had 17 points and led the team in +/- with a +39. NBA veteran Ronnie Brewer followed suit with a +35, tallying nine points, six rebounds and eight assists. Former Golden State training camp invitee Chris Udofia also had a good night, scoring 16 points and ending the night +28.

Jarred Shaw at halftime shootaround

Really impressive in his first game with Santa Cruz was 6-foot-10 center Jarred Shaw, who was drafted by the Warriors in the first round (18th overall) of the 2015 NBA D-League Draft. He dropped in 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first quarter, finishing with 17 points and eight rebounds.

Shaw remained humble when talking about his debut postgame.

“I felt good out there. I felt like I played okay for my first game,” Shaw said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement. Happy to get the win, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

Equally impressive in his debut was 6-foot-5 guard Verdell Jones III, who was a third round pick by Santa Cruz (56th overall) in the 2015 NBA D-League Draft. He shot 9-for-10 from the field and 5-for-5 from three to end the night with a team-high 25 points, also adding in 10 rebounds and two assists.

“I thought we had some good spots….got a little sloppy at some points,” said Jones on the team’s debut. “Hopefully we can take this momentum into practice this week and get ready for the beginning of the season.”

Santa Cruz led by as much as 44 points, outscoring the Bighorns in the paint 64-32 and holding them to 16-for-48 shooting inside (33.3 percent). They also out-rebound the Bighorns 64-41, highlighted by a whopping 50 defensive boards to Reno’s 28.

The Bighorns finished with five players in double-digit scoring, but shot an abysmal 29.2 percent from the field and just 10-for-40 from behind the arc. Leading the team was Josiah Turner, who scored 20 points in 27 minutes off the bench. Vincent Hunter was also big for Reno, dropping in a double-double with 17 points and 12 boards.

As part of the Warriors’ NBA D-League cares initiative, all proceeds from the game went to refurbishing the Twin Lakes Church basketball court in Aptos, California. Many Twin Lakes Church parishioners were present at the game, taking up nearly four sections of bleacher space, and Pastor Mark Spurlock was kind enough to talk with Blue Man Hoop after the game on how much the Twin Lakes community appreciated the Warriors organization.

“It’s been about 11 years since we’ve been able to refurb the inside of that facility,” Pastor Spurlock said. “We’re very, very grateful for the generosity of the Santa Cruz Warriors. To do this was totally an amazing gift, so we’re grateful for their generosity to the community and to our church.”

When asked about whether he was a big basketball fan and to what degree he followed the team, Spurlock summed up the DubNation mentality in just a few sentences.

“The Warriors are VERY easy to be enthusiastic about,” he said, smiling. “It’s great to see that the D-League team is carrying on the tradition of just smoking the competition.”