After Jarell Eddie’s incredible Game 2 performance helped stave off elimination for one night, Eddie and the Spurs weren’t able to carry over the momentum into Monday night, as the Santa Cruz Warriors eliminated the Austin Spurs, 97-83.
Kyle Anderson made the most of his last game of the season, leading the Spurs with 22 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two assists. Orlando Johnson and Jarell Eddie added 18 and 14 points respectively.
For the Warriors, it was a total team effort with six players scoring in double figures for Santa Cruz. Elliot Williams led the way with 31 points, six rebounds and five assists. Meanwhile, Ognjen Kuzmic feasted in the paint with 20 points and 16 rebounds, while Taylor Griffin performed well enough to make his younger brother Blake proud, with 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists.
The Spurs held their own well for the entire first half, trailing by just four points heading into the locker room. But the Warriors would come out firing in the third, with Elliot Williams dropping nine of the Warriors 29 points, helping Santa Cruz push their lead out to 15 points near the end of the quarter.
Austin would cut the lead down to just 10 with just over three minutes to go, but could never get the deficit to single digits as the Warriors used an 11-2 run over the last two minutes to win the game and clinch the series.
Santa Cruz now advances to their third straight D-League Finals appearance, as they take on the Fort Wayne Mad Ants in a rematch of the 2014 Development League Finals, where the Mad Ants swept the Warriors in two games. Game 1 of the D-League Finals is Thursday from the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.
