Santa Cruz Warriors Beat the Buzzer to Defeat Austin Spurs

The D-League Warriors won at the buzzer on Friday night.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz Warriors pulled out the 94-92 win over the Austin Spurs on Friday after forward Chris Udofia, who was formerly with the Golden State Warriors during the 2015 preseason, was able to get off a baseline jumper to beat the buzzer.

Chris Udofia would finish the night with a double-double, tallying 16 points and 12 rebounds. He also had two assists, two blocks, and one steal on 8-for-11 shooting (72.7 percent) in what’s to be considered his best game thus far in the season.

Santa Cruz Warriors head coach Casey Hill spoke highly of the University of Denver product after the game, praising Udofia for the effort he’s showed the past six contests.

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“The one thing that I love about him is how hard he plays, but then the one thing that is difficult about him is that he plays hard,” Hill said, talking about how frustrated Udofia has been after fouling out in Santa Cruz’s last two games. “Tonight, he took a deep breath. His pace was a little bit more…fluid.”

“He took advantage of his opportunity and did a great job.”

Elliot Williams once again paced the Warriors, leading all scorers with 26 points on 10-for-20 shooting. Daniel Orton had 14 points and a game-high six blocks, Juwan Staten had 10 points and seven assists, and Darington Hobson added in seven points, 11 boards, seven assists, and three blocks.

Deshaun Thomas led the Spurs with 17 points and seven boards. Orlando Johnson added in 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting (55.5 percent), while Jarell Eddie, who was formerly with Golden State during the preseason, dropped in 12 points despite going 2-for-7 from behind the arc.

Overall, it was tough shooting night for the Warriors, shooting 44.7 percent from the field, 14.3 percent from three-point range, and 66.7 percent from the line. They also fell short in the battle of the boards, recording 43 rebounds (nine offensive, 34 defensive) to Austin’s 56 (13 offensive, 43 defensive). Both teams were 7-for-12 on second-chance points with the Spurs taking a 5-point edge.

The Warriors, on the other hand, led Austin in fast break points (19-8), as well as points in the paint (58-46). The most impressive number for the Warriors: they finished the game with 31 assists and only five turnovers. They also had 11 steals and 11 blocks on the night.

Santa Cruz jumped out to an 11-2 lead early in the game, later was later trimmed to three by the end of the initial quarter. The second quarter would see the Spurs take the lead off a 22-8 run, finishing the half leading by six.

The Warriors would rally in the third, starting the quarter with a 12-5 run highlighted by two dunks from Udofia — a tip dunk to cut the Spurs lead to four, and a fast break jam to take a 1-point lead. There would be three lead changes in that quarter, ending with a 74-74 tie.

The fourth quarter would feature five lead changes prior to the 1:16 mark, at which point Staten was able to drain the 18-foot jumper to tie the game at 92. Spurs center Youssou Ndoye would be called for a travel on the other end, giving the ball back to the Warriors in what seemed like an absolute blessing. Unfortunately, Staten missed the 19-foot jumper that would have likely ended the game. Instead, the Spurs recovered the ball, subsequently calling timeout.

Cameron Bairstow, on assignment from the Chicago Bulls, would miss the 5-footer out of the huddle, which was rebounded by Orton. The Warriors would call time to draw up a play with 6.2 seconds left, but according to Coach Hill, nothing went as planned.

“It was supposed to hit Elliot (Williams), Elliot was supposed to hit DO (Daniel Orton) with probably four seconds left, and he was supposed to go to work,” Hill said, recalling the final events of the game.

“We had a miscommunication, and then Juwan (Staten) did what he needed to do: he isolated, took it to the paint, drew a defender, and…Chris Udofia, there you go.

“Fadeaway…knockdown…that was pretty special.”

Udofia also touched base on the last play, adding in later that it was the first buzzer-beater in his career.

“We just came back from a great stop and recovery and rebound, so we were looking to feed inside,” said Udofia. “Juwan kind of broke the play down and we were able to get some good spacing, and I just did what I had to do at that point, just put the shot up.”

Following their win over the Austin Spurs, the Santa Cruz Warriors improve their regular season win-loss record to 4-2. They’ll play the Spurs again Saturday night at 7 PM/PT in Santa Cruz as part of a back-to-back. The Spurs, previously undefeated, drop to 4-1.

If you missed Friday night’s game, you can watch it below.

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