Warriors Fight Off 66ers, 92-80

It was a tale of two halves for the Santa Cruz Warriors as they defeated the visiting 66ers for the second time in three days, 92-80.

Stefhon Hannah came up big for the Warriors when they needed a lift offensively as he scored 25 points and made it rain buckets from three land hitting six of them on the night. He also pestered all 66ers guards with his on ball defense and had four steals.

The Warriors came into this game with a perfect record of 5-0 at home in Kaiser Permanete Arena and they were challenged early. The game got out to a slow start in the first half with the Warriors sending the 66ers to the foul line time-after-time.

They fell down by as much as 12 points at one time in the second quarter as they could not respond to the 66ers ball movement. The Warriors continued to struggle until the time ticked down and they would scurry into the locker room for halftime down 49-41.

A new Warriors team emerged from the locker room in the second half, one very similar to the team that played against the 66ers on Friday night. They faught back and cut the lead to just 6 points mid-way through the third as Taylor Griffin, who had six points, nine rebounds and five assist on the night, slammed one home to start 10-2 run to tie the game at 59 with 4:20 remaining in the third.

Both teams would trade baskets for the rest of the period until Dan Nwaelele nailed a three pointer with just 25 seconds in the third to give the Warriors the 67-65 advantage going into the fourth.

The Warriors would not look back as they pulled away in the fourth with a 8-0 run fueled by Chris Johnson, who finished with 18 points, and Cameron Jones who added 11.

After the Sluggish start the Warriors defense buckled down and held the 66ers to just 36.1 percent shooting from the field.

The 66ers were lead by the NBA D-League Showcase slam dunk champion  Dominique Sutton who recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds on the night.

The Warriors, now standing at 11-6 (6-0 at home), will hit the road to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to face the Skyforce on Tuesday. The last time the Warriors faced the Skyforce they prevailed in a tough one 109-93 on New Years day; However both Jeremy Tyler and Kent Bazemore were on assignment from the Golden State Warriors that evening.