SANTA CRUZ — Santa Cruz’s supportive crowd roared in support after Patrick Baldwin Jr. buried a 3-pointer that gave the Warriors an 18-point lead with 8 minutes and 54 seconds remaining Saturday. The host Warriors had the Stockton Kings right where they wanted them.
And then they didn’t. Stockton outscored Santa Cruz 37-18 in the fourth quarter, including a closing 15-0 run, and beat the Warriors 110-103 in NBA G League action in front of 2,178 fans at Kaiser Permanente Arena.
“I think we relax,” said Warriors coach Seth Cooper, of the team’s knack for letting leads slip away late. “I think we start feeling good about what we’re doing. And instead of staying with the simple plays, staying locked in defensively, we start trying to get ahead of ourselves, and that’s when the game kinda bites you.”
Santa Cruz (4-6), coming off an impressive win over G League Ignite on Friday night, has yet to win consecutive games in Showcase Cup play to open the season.
The Warriors bid good riddance to an up-and-down November, but they haven’t seen the last of the Kings, nor have they Neemias Queta, a 7-foot, 248-pound two-way center on assignment from Sacramento. Santa Cruz has five days off but returns to action with back-to-back games against host Stockton (3-4).
Queta had four points during the closing run, which spanned the final 3:55, and finished with 38 points and 18 rebounds. Both totals were season highs for the former Utah State player, a second-round pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He finished 12-of-14 shooting from the field, was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line, and tacked on four blocked shots, for good measure.
“His effort both ways, his finishing around the rim, hands, great feet, made his free throws… I can’t say enough about how much better he’s gotten,” Cooper said of Queta. “He was good last year, and you saw it this summer at the California Classic, he was really good, and he keeps getting better. He had a huge impact on the game tonight, for sure.”
Santa Cruz’s Dusty Hannahs scored a team-high 22 points in 28 minutes off the bench. JaQuori McLaughlin and Ryan Rollins each scored 17 points for the Warriors.
McLaughlin noticed the change in play late that proved costly.
“I felt like we weren’t playing the same way on offense, not playing together. The ball was kinda sticking,” he said. “We gotta be able to play the same way the whole game.”
Santa Cruz’s James Wiseman, a 7-foot center who was the second overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, posted his third double-double in five games, but his fifth straight game with a negative plus-minus rating. He finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Jerome Robinson scored 13 points for the Warriors, and teammate Gui Santos had 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and the fiercest blocked shot of the game, which came while defending Chima Moneke midway through the fourth quarter.
Jordan Ford scored 17 points for Stockton. Two-way guard Keon Ellis scored 12 points, and Wes Iwundu, Jeriah Horne and DJ Steward each chipped in 10 points.
THE SCORE
Kings 110, Warriors 103
Up next: Santa Cruz at Stockton
When: Friday, 7 p.m
TV: NBC Sports Bay Area+
Online: NBAGLeague.com
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