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Santa Cruz Warriors Drop 2016-17 Season Opener to Los Angeles

By Angelo Mendoza

Oct 14, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Phil Pressey (26) and Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) battle for the ball in overtime at the Pepsi Center. The Warriors won 129-128. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 14, 2016; Denver, CO, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Phil Pressey (26) and Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) battle for the ball in overtime at the Pepsi Center. The Warriors won 129-128. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports /
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Santa Cruz Warriors lose their 2016-17 regular season opener 114-116 to the Los Angeles D-Fenders.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Despite leading for the majority of the game Saturday night at Kaiser Permanente Arena, the Santa Cruz Warriors failed to secure a win in their 2016-17 regular season opener against the undefeated Los Angeles D-Fenders, losing 114-116.

Phil Pressey led all scorers with 25 points in 32 minutes played, shooting 10-for-18 from the field and 4-for-8 from behind the arc. He also had five rebounds and six assists to go with his scoring total.

Cameron Jones dropped in 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and two steals in his return back to Santa Cruz. Elgin Cook and Scott Wood each finished with 16 points, as well.

Chris Obekpa was the only other Sea Dubs player to score in double-digits, tallying 10 points to go with his seven rebounds and two blocks. Local tryout player Dennis Clifford debuted with 14 rebounds to go with his six points.

Despite a tough shooting night, renowned D-League veteran Vander Blue led the Los Angeles D-Fenders with 25 points, finishing with a team-high +14. Justin Harper had a double-double, dropping in 24 points and 14 rebounds.

LA had three other players score in double-digits, including starter Travis Wear (16), as well as David Nwaba (19) and Roscoe Smith (15) off the bench.

Commenting on his thoughts throughout the game, Coach Casey Hill acknowledged the team’s spectacular first half, later crediting LA for eventually tying and winning the game. Hill ended by saying this game was a good learning experience for the entire team, a team which consists of a bunch of guys new to the D-League.

"“I thought [in] the first half, we were very good. I thought execution-wise, offensively, we were kinda getting everything we wanted to, and I thought defensively we were very very good,” said Hill.“I said first 3-5 minutes coming out of this locker room, there’s gonna be a real big determining factor in terms of where we end up at the end of this game, and sure enough, they (Los Angeles) came out, went on a 11-0 run. All of a sudden, it’s a 6-point game, and then we played them even for the rest of the game.”"

Pressey said much of the same after the game, speaking proudly of how his team played. Just as Coach Hill mentioned, Pressey felt this was an overall great learning experience for the team early in the season.

"“It was fun game. I feel like everybody went out there and gave it their all,” said Pressey.“Coach talked about how teams can go on runs, and whether we’re up 17 or 18 points, that can be washed away within two or three minutes. So I mean, it’s a good learning experience for us. It’s a good thing it happened early in the season because we can watch film and see what we did right and what we did wrong, but I feel like there’s a lot of positives [to go on] in this game.”"

The Santa Cruz Warriors will retool themselves in preparation to host the Iowa Energy on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 7:00 p.m. (Pacific).

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