Wolves Close Road Trip with Big Win over Cruise

DETROIT – The Iowa Wolves closed its first road trip of the season with a 140-122 victory over the Motor City Cruise on Wednesday at Wayne State Fieldhouse.

After Indiana handed Iowa (5-1) its first loss on Monday night, the Wolves dealt Motor City (4-1) its first defeat behind a season high in points scored. 

In his NBA G League debut, Minnesota assignee Terrence Shannon Jr. poured in a game-high 34 points on 13-of-23 shooting. Shannon Jr. added six rebounds and six assists.

Fellow Timberwolves assignee Leonard Miller recorded his sixth double-double in as many games with 25 points and 10 rebounds. Two-ways Jaylen Clark and Daishen Nix each scored 20 points while guard Trevor Keels chipped in 16 points. Iowa’s other two-way Jesse Edwards posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Cole Swider was the leading scorer for Motor City with 29 points behind six three-pointers while Javante McCoy had 22 points off the bench. The Cruise were the last remaining undefeated team in the NBA G League. The two teams will play a rematch on Dec. 13 at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.

Motor City opened Wednesday’s game with a three-pointer by Daniss Jenkins but it was quickly answered by Nix who made a short jumper and then buried a three and Shannon followed with consecutive layups as part of a 9-0 run for the Wolves who never trailed the rest of the game and led by as many as 25. The Cruise got as close as eight late in the third quarter.

Iowa hosts the Grand Rapids Gold (3-1) in a back-to-back Friday and Saturday. Tipoff for both games will be 6:30 p.m. CT. Friday will be the Pack has Your Back Mental Health Awareness night, the first game in this season’s Principal Community Celebration Series. The Wolves will wear jerseys designed by local artist Van Holmgren and the jerseys will be up for auction through Saturday night at 10 pm, benefitting Iowa's Healthiest State Initiative. Bid now.