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Health & Fitness

Warriors derail D-Fenders

Team blows 26 point lead, still manages to win ballgame.  


The Santa Cruz Warriors returned home to Kaiser Permanente Arena after a two-week, five-game road trip and put on a show for the fans, beating the Los Angeles D-Fenders 115-114 in overtime.  The team wore red jerseys to support the Salvation Army, though the team itself looked like it needed saving near the end of regulation.

The Warriors (8-3) led by eight points with 25 seconds remaining, but with several three-pointers, including a pair in the last 12 seconds of regulation, the D-Fenders (2-6) found a way to tie the game up after trailing by as many as 26 points earlier in the contest. 

Seth Curry led all scorers with 27 points on 9-of-23 shooting.  Dewayne Dedmon set a new franchise record grabbing 21 rebounds to go along with 15 points, his sixth consecutive double-double for the team, but it was almost all-for-naught as the team came on the verge of collapsing.

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"We needed to pick up our intensity on defense more," said Dedmon.  "We just got to learn that we can't give up leads like that, we got to stick with what's working for us."

Coach Hill blamed his team's complacency allowed Los Angeles back into the game.  The D-Fenders scored 47 points in the fourth quarter, after having opened against the Warriors with 48 points two games prior. 

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"The fourth quarter came and we let our guard down," said coach Casey Hill.  "I'm very disappointed in the way we handled our lead."

The Warriors started strong with great ball movement and execution on offense as they led by 16 points after the first quarter.  But the complacency kicked in near the end of the game as the team settled for jump-shots in the fourth quarter and couldn't defend the perimeter

The Warriors gave up seven turnovers in the fourth quarter, allowing the D-Fenders to score 13 points.  In total the team gave up 30 turnovers total compared to just 15 from L.A.. 

CJ Williams scored 22 points, including the game-tying three-pointer for the D-Fenders while Manny Harris chipped in with 21 points himself. 

Despite holding the D-Fenders to 37 percent shooting, the Warriors still weren't able to close out the end of the game, though Hill sees this as a positive for his team.

"I'm glad this happened now early enough in the season," said Hill, "It's the first time we've experienced it but there's a lot of teaching moments and a lot of film is going to be watched."

The Warriors shot over 50 percent from three-point range, (13-of-24) while the D-Fenders attempted 44 three-pointers, going 8-of-14 from downtown in the final quarter.

"You see all these teams taking a million threes, and it works for certain teams" said Hill, "I don't want to go out there and shoot 1,000 three-point shots.  It's more important for us to play a more balanced game." 

Daniel Nwaelele found his stroke early and scored 20 points, including 5-of-7 from three-point range. 

The Warriors take on the Idaho Stampede this Sunday.  Tipoff at 6:00 p.m. 



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