The Santa Cruz Warriors’ 2016-17 season came to a screeching halt on Monday with a stunning 124-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Blue in Game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City.
No. 4-seeded Santa Cruz led 97-96 with 7:04 left to play but top-seeded Oklahoma City dominated the remainder of the game to close out the series and advance to the Western Conference Finals. The Blue will play the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who beat the Los Angeles D-Fenders in three games to advance.
Santa Cruz, which became only the third team in D-League history to make the playoffs after a 2-7 start, finished with a 31-19 regular season record and entered the postseason on a six-game win streak but could not carry over that momentum to the Cox Convention Center, where the Warriors failed to win a game this season.
Jabari Brown poured in 30 points on 12 of 20 shooting, while Golden State Warriors assignee Damian Jones (17 points and 12 rebounds) and James Southerland (21 points and 11 rebounds) each recorded a double-double. They were the lone Warriors in double figures.
Santa Cruz struggled to take care of the ball down the stretch. The Warriors entered the fourth quarter with only nine turnovers but coughed up the ball seven times over the final 12 minutes, including six during the Blue’s final scoring onslaught.
Oklahoma City’s Daniel Hamilton scored 16 points in the fourth quarter — all of them coming during the final 6:24 — and finished with 30 for the night to go along with 12 rebounds. Five others scored in double figures for the Blue: Dakari Johnson (24), Dez Wells (21), Josh Huestis (20), Reggie Williams (12) and Chris Wright (11).
Santa Cruz won Game 1, 121-120, of the best-of-three series at home on Wednesday night but suffered a 131-117 blowout loss on Saturday in Game 2 at Oklahoma City to set up Monday’s deciding Game 3.
The Warriors looked like they had put the loss behind them, as they dropped 40 points in the first quarter behind seven 3-pointers. But the Blue answered right back with a strong second quarter to take a 64-60 lead at the half.
Santa Cruz grabbed the advantage on a Southerland 3-pointer with 8:34 left in the third quarter and held on until the early moments of the final stanza. The lead switched hands four times before the Blue took it for good on Wells’ dunk.
