Wolves Split Series with Stars

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa Wolves defeated the Salt Lake City Stars, 122-111, in Monday afternoon’s Martin Luther King Day matinee at Wells Fargo Arena.

Iowa (2-6) earned its first home win of the regular season behind a balanced team scoring performance. Tyrese Martin led the Wolves with a season-high 31 points, his second 30+ game of the season, and five others scored double figures. Martin added 11 rebounds.

Lance Stephenson posted his first triple-double of the season with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. D.J. Carton scored 24 points, Giorgi Bezhanishvili had17, Nojel Eastern scored 13 and Javonte Cooke had 11 points off the bench. 

Utah Jazz assignee Brice Sensabaugh led Salt Lake City (2-5) with 26 points while two-way Johnny Juzang finished with 21 points. Other two-way Micah Potter just missed a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds. 

Sensabaugh made the first two baskets of the game for Salt Lake sandwiched around Stephenson’s first three-pointer for a 4-3 lead. It was Salt Lake’s final lead of the game as Martin scored the next five points. Later, Jason Preston tied the game at 10-10 with a jumper but the Wolves held the lead the entire rest of the game. 

Iowa has a quick road trip visiting the Birmingham Squadron on Thursday at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The team returns home Jan. 20 to host the Capital City Go-Go at 7 p.m.