Iowa Drops Final Game of Road Trip

AUSTIN, Texas – The Iowa Wolves dropped the final game of its road trip to start the regular season losing to the Austin Spurs,121-102, on Wednesday night at the H-E-B Center.

Iowa (1-2), which played its third road game in six days, was led by El Ellis who scored a game-high 27 points in the loss. Ellis is averaging 27.6 points in the first three games of the regular season. He added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Austin (1-2) earned its first win of the regular season behind a balanced scoring attack with seven players finishing in double figures. In just his third game with the Spurs, Kyle Rode, poured in a team-high 25 points off the bench. As a team, Austin made 14 three-pointers, with half coming from Rode who knocked down 7-of-10 (70%) from beyond the arc. 

Ellis gave Iowa its only lead of the night at 9-6 early in the first quarter with his first three-pointer. Austin quickly responded by outscoring the Wolves, 24-12, the rest of the first quarter to lead 30-21 going into the second period. Iowa pulled within three points early in the second quarter, but Austin went back up by double digits at halftime and then kept the double-digit margin the entire rest of the night after halftime.

Iowa return to Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday, Jan. 4 and Tuesday, Jan. 7 to host the Santa Cruz Warriors in a two-game series. The Wolves last played at home on Dec. 13. Tipoff for both games against the Warriors will be 6:30 p.m. CT.  Tuesday night will be Los Lobos: Hispanic Heritage Celebration, the third game in the Principal Community Celebration Series. The Wolves will wear specialty jerseys that will be auctioned off to benefit the Hola Center of Iowa. A postgame concert with Son Peruchos will take place.