Iowa Wolves Beat Motor City, 121-110; Set up Key Thursday Night Contest vs Cleveland

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wolves improved to 7-0 at Wells Fargo Arena with its 121-110 victory over the Motor City Cruise on Monday night.

Iowa (10-5) closes the Showcase portion of its schedule on Thursday night when the Cleveland Charge (11-4) visit with Showcase Cup implications on the line for the Wolves. The teams with the best winning-percentage in each regional pod, along with the next four teams across the league with the best win-percentages, will advance to compete for the Showcase Cup in a single-elimination tournament during the NBA G League Winter Showcase next week in Las Vegas.

The Charge defeated the Windy City Bulls (8-5) Monday to clinch one of the eight spots in Vegas. Iowa along with the Bulls are in position for one of the remaining spots in the showcase. The Bulls have three games remaining and hold the tiebreaker over the Wolves after sweeping them earlier this year. Cleveland, Iowa, and Windy City are all in the central region.

Monday night, Emmanuel Mudiay nearly posted a triple-double with a season-high 26 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Matt Lewis scored a season-best 25 points behind knocking down a career-high seven three-pointers. Phillip Wheeler poured in a career-high 21 points while CJ Elleby and Brandon Sampson each had 17 points. Elleby pulled down 10 rebounds for his first double-double this season.

Motor City (3-11) was paced by Braxton Key’s 23 points.

After five lead changes and five ties, Iowa took the lead for good late in the second quarter with a 10-2 closing run to the half that featured three three-pointers with one each by Lewis, Mudiay, and Sampson. Sampson added a free throw off a technical foul by the Cruise as Iowa led 52-44 at half.

The Cruise pulled within one in the third before Iowa pulled away and led by as many as 15 points.