Santa Cruz Warriors defeat Agua Caliente Clippers…again
The Santa Cruz Warriors defeated the visiting Agua Caliente Clippers 115-100 on Saturday at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
Coming off a dominating 111-82 victory over the Wisconsin Herd just the night before, the Santa Cruz Warriors defeated former Sea Dubs head coach Casey Hill and his Agua Caliente Clippers 115-100 on Saturday at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
Having already beaten the Clippers 131-98 at Citizens Business Bank Arena on Nov. 3, this marks the second time in the past two weeks that Surf City has emerged victorious in a matchup with the Clippers.
Following their most recent win over Agua Caliente, the Warriors improve their regular season record to 3-2. They will look to go up 4-2 when they host the Salt Lake City Stars on Wednesday.
Georges Niang was the highest scorer for Santa Cruz on Saturday, stuffing the stat sheet once again with 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 33 minutes. He shot 8-of-14 from the field (57.1 percent), 3-of-4 from behind the arc (75.0 percent) and 1-of-1 from the free throw line.
Antonius Cleveland added 19 points in 28 minutes off the bench, as well as six rebounds, four assists and four steals. He’s shot incredibly well to start the season, going 7-of-11 from the field (63.6 percent), 3-of-4 from behind the arc (75.0 percent) and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
Cleanthony Early had what’s to be considered his best all-around game thus far, dropping in 18 points, six rebounds, two assists, three steals and three blocks in 35 minutes. Quinn Cook posted 16 points, five rebounds, nine assists and four steals, while Trevor Thompson had 13 points and five rebounds.
Michael Gbinije was a team-high +25 in 30 minutes, finishing with nine points, one rebound and two assists on 3-of-6 shooting (50.0 percent). Saturday’s game marks the second consecutive time Gbinije has started at guard over returning player Alex Hamilton.
As for Golden State Warriors assignment player Damian Jones: the big man ended the night with a team-low -8 in 19 minutes on 2-of-5 shooting (40.0 percent). He had eight points, eight rebounds, one assist and two blocks.
Agua Caliente put together an incredibly competitive first quarter effort against the Warriors, but the second quarter saw the Sea Dubs pull away enough to secure a comfortable 56-46 lead at halftime.
A strong defensive effort by Santa Cruz in Q3 limited the Clippers to just 16 points, going up by as much as 29 at the start of the fourth. By the time the Clips had finally put together a run to help fuel their comeback effort, the Warriors had already pushed the game out of reach.