The Santa Cruz Warriors suffered a 98-72 loss to the Austin Spurs at Kaiser Permanente Arena on Sunday night.
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SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz Warriors were unfortunately on the receiving end of a 98-72 blowout loss at Kaiser Permanente Arena on Sunday night, courtesy of the D-League’s current Southwest Division leader, the Austin Spurs (26-20). Santa Cruz moves to 18-29 with a half-game lead over the Idaho Stampede, who now occupy the last place spot in both the Western Conference and Pacific Division.
Darington Hobson was the leading scorer for Santa Cruz, tallying 16 points in the loss to Austin. Xavier Henry dropped in 15 points off the bench, while Verdell Jones III had 12 points on the night.
Austin’s Brandon Fields led all scorers with 22 points off the bench to go with his nine assists. Point guard Keifer Sykes contributed 21 points and eight rebounds. Walter Tavares, on assignment from the Atlanta Hawks, had a unique double-double with the Spurs, recording 14 rebounds and 10 blocks.
The Warriors were coming off a 116-97 victory over the Los Angeles D-Fenders the night before, and the sellout crowd at KP Arena was in for some cool activities to participate in, including a night of “Basketball Bingo” presented by Lloyd’s Tire and Auto Care, as well as an Easter-themed “Golden Egg” giveaway in which fans were eligible to win autographed Warriors memorabilia.
However, the night started out incredibly horrible for the Warriors as the Spurs forced Santa Cruz into an uphill climb early, going on a 21-0 run right out of the gates. Santa Cruz remained scoreless until the 5:01 mark in the first quarter, at which point Aaron Craft was able to drive in for the hoop and the harm.
Long story short: the Spurs controlled the tempo from the very start of the whistle, putting on a dominant performance that was evidenced all across the board. Try as the might have all night, Santa Cruz was just completely unable to get anything going on either end as Austin continued to shoot lights out for the rest of the game at the expense of the Warriors, who failed to get anything to go down.
Tale of the Tape
Santa Cruz Warriors
- Field-goal percentage: 28.6% (28-90)
- Three-point percentage: 15.4% (4-26)
- Rebounds: 35
- Assists: 19
- Turnovers: 8
Austin Spurs
- Field-goal percentage: 48.8% (39-80)
- Three-point percentage: 41.7% (10-24)
- Rebounds: 64
- Assists: 29
- Turnovers: 18
Good to Know
FINAL: (27-20) Austin 98, (18-29) Santa Cruz 72. Sea Dubs set franchise lows in points and FG% (28.9%). AUS claims season series 4-1
— Kevin Danna (@kevo408) March 28, 2016
What’s on Tap
The Santa Cruz Warriors will host the Reno Bighorns on Wednesday, March 30 in what is to be their final home game of the 2015-16 season. After that, they will head to Idaho to face the Stampede for a back-to-back series to close out the year.