Quinn Cook had 28 points and nine assists, Damian Jones and Damion Lee added 15 points apiece but it wasn’t enough for the Santa Cruz Warriors in a 105-97 loss to the Austin Spurs on Sunday night at Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Playing in front of more than 15,000 fans in the Golden State Warriors’ house, Santa Cruz (17-15) got off to a hot start in the first quarter, but wasn’t able to keep it up over the next three frames en route to their fifth loss over their last six games.
Cook hit his first five shots and scored 11 points in the first quarter to help Santa Cruz jump out to a 30-22 lead heading into the second. But the Spurs (20-12) rattled off 12 straight points to take the lead. They kept Santa Cruz at arm’s length from there on out.
Austin led 51-47 at the half, and 74-70 at the start of the fourth.
Michael Gbinije hit a 3-pointer with 10:32 left to make it a one-point game, but the Warriors never came any closer.
Two-way big Chris Boucher had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Everyone else on the Santa Cruz roster finished with five boards or less, as Austin dominated the glass with 16 offensive rebounds and 47 rebounds overall to Santa Cruz’s 33.
Nick Johnson scored 13 points during the final stanza to lead the Spurs with 21. Olivier Hanlan had 16 points, Amida Brimah added 14 points and seven rebounds and Jaron Blossomgame chipped in 11 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Livio Jean-Charles played well off the bench for Austin, finishing with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Sunday’s game at Oracle was the second time in as many seasons the Warriors played at their NBA affiliate’s home. Last season, Santa Cruz set the G League attendance record in a loss to the Oklahoma City Blue by packing 17,497 fans into Oracle. The record has been reset three times since then — the Raptors 905 and Rio Grande Valley Vipers game on Dec. 5, 2017 has the record with 18,900 fans.
Santa Cruz will return to Kaiser Permanente Arena Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a game against the Maine Red Claws.
