8:30 a.m. was tipoff time in Mississipi as the Santa Cruz Warriors faced the Memphis Hustle at the Landers Center.
The 110-91 win for the Santa Cruz Warriors was gained thanks to Kendrick Nunn’s 30 points and Will Cherry’s 21 points. On today’s edition of TimeOut, I will give a quick recap of yesterday’s win against the Memphis Hustle (the G-League affiliate of the Memphis Grizzlies).
With Cousins out, Marcus Derrickson and Damian Lee with the Golden State Warriors as a part of their two-way contract and Darius Morris with a right ankle injury, nine players suited up for the Sea Dubs.
Despite three of the Sea Dubs’s top offensive players out, the Warriors began their work early in the first quarter with a step back jumper from Will Cherry off the Jacob Evans’s assist. By the end of the first quarter, the Warriors had a 29-23 lead with Jacob Evans leading all scorers with nine points on three-of-six shooting.
Two other players in Will Cherry and Kendrick Nunn scored eight points which is more than what the entire Hustle team scored in the first quarter. Kendrick Nunn got up to eight points shooting two left-wing threes. The Warriors turned the ball over twice in the first quarter which was great to see.
At the half, the Santa Cruz Warriors were up by eighteen points outscoring the Memphis Hustle 25-13 in the second quarter of the game. Three players had scored twelve points by the end of the first half: Jacob Evans, Will Cherry and Kendrick Nunn.
What was also impressive was the team grabbing thirteen more defensive rebounds in the second quarter in comparison to the first quarter. To end the first half, the team grabbed twenty-six rebounds, six offensive rebounds and twenty defensive rebounds.
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The Warriors ensured that they scored off turnovers shooting eleven points off the Hustle’s eleven points. The Warriors was also shooting better in the paint shooting thirteen of twenty from that range.
In the third quarter, the Memphis Hustle outscored the Warrior by a point.
The Warriors had fourteen assists, turnovers and fouls to end the third quarter which was less than ideal despite having a 79-62 lead.
Point-wise, Kendrick Nunn had nineteen points, Jacob Evans had eighteen points and Will Cherry had fourteen points. What was impressive about the third quarter for the Sea Dubs was the defense ability to hold the Memphis Hustle offense to 41% shooting.
Although the Warriors was not extremely active on the offensive end during the fourth quarter of the game, they were able to keep the lead intact thanks to Kendrick Nunn, Cherry and Kevin Young.
Kendrick Nunn came off the bench and scored thirty points which were great for the Sea Dubs. Will Cherry scored twenty-one points shooting nine of eighteen from the field. Warriors assignment player Jacob Evans scored eighteen points in twenty-seven minutes. Juan Toscano-Anderson who has been good for the Warriors on the defensive end scored thirteen points in yesterday’s victory.
The remaining players scored eight points or under. Overall great effort by the Sea Dubs.
The Santa Cruz Warriors will kick off February against the OKC Blue on Facebook Live at 8 p.m. eastern.