Santa Cruz Warriors: Damian Jones Scores 22 in Loss to Legends

Damian Jones, on assignment from the Golden State Warriors, scored a career-high 22 points for the Santa Cruz Warriors on Friday against the Texas Legends at Kaiser Permanente Arena.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz Warriors (25-19) failed to bounce back from their recent road loss to the Oklahoma City Blue (30-15), losing 120-107 to the Texas Legends (23-20) on Friday at Kaiser Permanente Arena.

With six more games left in the regular season, Santa Cruz remains half a game behind the Sioux Falls Skyforce (25-19) for the fourth and final playoff seed in the NBA D-League Western Conference.

Surf City will host the Legends on Saturday for the second game of a back-to-back series in Santa Cruz. The first 1,500 fans in the doors will have a chance to receive a Warriors Ground rally towel courtesy of Bay Federal Credit Union. Fans unable to make the trip can still catch their Sea Dubs via Facebook Live.

Damian Jones set a new career-high in scoring on Friday against the Legends, pacing Santa Cruz with 22 points on 9-for-12 shooting from the field and 4-for-6 shooting from the free throw line. He had nine rebounds and three blocks, as well.

Still on assignment from the Golden State Warriors, Jones tops his previous career-high 20 points, which he scored in Santa Cruz’s 123-98 loss to OKC last Tuesday.  Friday’s game also marks the seventh consecutive time Jones has scored in double-digits.

Kevon Looney was also on assignment from Golden State, finishing with 11 points, seven rebounds, one assist and one steal on 5-for-9 shooting from the field and 1-for-3 shooting from the charity stripe.

Santa Cruz Warriors head coach Casey Hill commented on Looney’s performance, acknowledging that Looney may not had been in the best shape possible considering the power forward’s lack of rotational play with Golden State.

"“Loon’s still getting his legs under him, but I thought he did a decent job on the glass,” said Hill. “…Kevon, I thought, gave us pretty good energy. He’s still getting himself back in shape — he hasn’t been doing much lately — so he’ll be better tomorrow.”"

Santa Cruz’s Scott Wood also finished in double-digits after getting hot early in the game, finishing with 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field and 5-for-10 shooting from behind the arc.

LaDontae Henton added 14 points and nine rebounds.