Iowa Drops Final Road Game to Santa Cruz, 132-112

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. – The Iowa Wolves dropped its final NBA G League regular season road game on Saturday night as the Santa Cruz Warriors won 132-112 at Kaiser Permanente Arena.

Iowa (8-22), which played with only seven players for the second-straight night in the back-to-back, was led in scoring by Emmanuel Mudiay who scored 28 points. Mudiay nearly recorded a triple-double with eight rebounds and eight assists.

Newly converted two-way Lester Quinones paced Santa Cruz (16-13) with 30 points. Quinones pulled down 10 rebounds. Jayce Johnson scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds.

Mudiay scored the game’s first points with a pull up jumper 45 seconds in and later made a three to give Iowa a 10-8 lead. It was the Wolves final lead of the night as Johnson tied it and Quinones put the Warriors up with a one for two free throw. Santa Cruz led 37-29 after one quarter and led by as many as 27 to pull away for the series sweep between the teams.

Simi Shittu and Jordy Tshimanga each posted double-doubles for the second consecutive night for Iowa. Shittu had 15 points and 10 rebounds while Tshimanga had 18 points and tied a career-high with 19 rebounds. 

Craig Randall II had 17 points while Matt Lewis tallied 16 points. Jordan Bohannon and Phillip Wheeler each finished with nine points. 

Iowa return to Wells Fargo Arena to finish the regular season with the Birmingham Squadron visiting on March 22 and the Lakeland Magic on March 25. Both games start at 7 p.m. CT.