Santa Cruz Warriors Win Ninth in a Row With Another Dramatic Comeback

Daniel Nwaelele missed a crucial pass in the third quarter as he rounded the basket and it looked he doused what looked like a strong comeback by the Santa Cruz Warriors.

But then, with the flare of something in the movies, he grabbed the ball from a Stampede player like it belonged to him, raced down court and shot the basket that tied the game 60-60.

From that moment, the Warriors fought hard, but never looked back.

It wasn’t a pretty one but the Santa Cruz Warriors extended their winning streak to nine games after a comeback from behind 89-84 victory over the Idaho Stampede in front of another sold out crowd at the Kaiser Permanente Arena on Monday night.

And it was another late dominant performance by Jeremy Tyler that helped the Warriors (31-13) come away with the win as he scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half —a team-high— and snagged 6 rebounds along the way.

Santa Cruz head coach Nate Bjorkgren was pleased with his leading scorer’s performance and was glad he was able to show up again when the team needed him the most.

“He stepped and played well,” said Bjorkgren about Tyler. “He had a couple of good fourth quarters there in a row and one being again tonight. He had those nice rebounds and nice put-back dunks that helped us.”

The Warriors have gotten accustomed to playing from behind these last few games and as for Cameron Jones, who finished the game with 16 points, it might be something that he can get used to as long as the team can come out on top.

“Usually it seems like the last nine games we’ve been down at halftime for every game,” he said. “But as long as we’re getting it done, that’s all that really matters. We’ll take wins any way we can.”

The Warriors got off to a rough start and by the time the team knew it they was down 12-4 with only three minutes off the clock.

But Santa Cruz fought back and right before the end of the first quarter it was back-to-back three-pointers from Stefhon Hannah and Darington Hobson that gave the Warriors their first lead of the game.

The Warriors couldn’t carry on the momentum in the second quarter and three costly turnovers allowed the Stampede to go on a 9-0 run. A relentless defensive performance by Idaho – including Coby Karl, son of Denver Nuggets coach George Karl – allowed only 12 points and had the home team on its heels with a 44-36 lead at the half.

But it was a different story in the second half and an 11-2 run by the Warriors to start the third sparked the team and key steal late in the quarter by Daniel Nwaelele tied things up at 60-60.

And just before the end of the third it was Tyler with an easy layup bucket that gave Santa Cruz back the lead at 62-60. The defense was rock solid and held the Stampede to only 16 points.

In the fourth, the Warriors were determined to keep the win streak alive —the longest one in the league all year—after a slamming alley-oop dunk from Scott Machado to Tyler gave the team a 4-point lead. Machado finished with 6 assists.  

Santa Cruz continued to add pressure on defense but somehow the Stampede were able to get their shots in when they had to.  It was a back and forth battle but it was Jones’ last set of free throws that sealed the deal for the 89-84 win.

Idaho’s Justin Holiday led his team with a game-high 28 points and not far behind was Karl with 18 points along with 8 assists.  Other standouts for the Stampede were Justin Harper with 12 points and 8 rebounds and Sean Evans who also delivered 12 points off the bench.

The Warriors are now only a game behind the top seeded Bakersfield Jam in the western division and are one win away from making it to double digits in their amazing streak.

They’ll have to keep it going against the Idaho Stampede once again in front of the home crowd this Wednesday on Tie-Die night and Jones knows what it’ll take to get another notch in the win column.

“It’s basically the same thing we always do,” he said. “Which is play hard on defense and just run our motions, share the ball. Other then that we’re taking it game by game and waiting for our next opponent.”

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