South Bay Lakers Win First Regular-Season Game at New Home

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA – Center Thomas Bryant scored 30 points and guard Alex Caruso added 29 as the rebranded South Bay Lakers defeated the Santa Cruz Warriors, 127-123, Wednesday evening in their first regular-season game at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo.

Caruso made a tie-breaking 3-point shot with two minutes, 31 seconds left that gave South Bay a 123-120 lead it did not relinquish.

A putback dunk by forward Cleanthony Early pulled Santa Cruz within two, 125-123, with 48.8 seconds left. Guard Quinn Cook missed two 3-point shots with less than 10 seconds to play that would have given the Warriors the lead.

Bryant sank two free throws with three-tenths of a second left to seal the victory.

Guard Scott Machado added 19 in 32:41 off the bench, forward V.J. Beachem 17 and forward Travis Wear 15 for South Bay (2-0), the Los Angeles Lakers NBA G League affiliate.

Reserve guard Stephaun Branch had the best plus-minus for the Lakers, plus-eight, in 12:07 of play where he scored two points, missing four of five shots. South Bay was outscored by 10 during the 29:47 Wear was in the game.

Cook led the Warriors (1-2) with 25, forward James Southerland 23 in 32:25 off the bench, Early and forward Georges Niang 20 each and guard Antonius Cleveland 16 in 25:40 off the bench.

Santa Cruz guard Avry Holmes was scoreless in 7:09 of play, but had a game-best plus-10. The Warriors were outscored by 15 in the 18:27 center Damian Jones was in the game.

South Bay trailed 102-92 entering the fourth quarter, then scored 10 consecutive points as part of a 16-2 run that gave it a 108-104 lead with seven minutes, 30 seconds to play.

Machado scored six points during the run, including a 3-point basket. Bryant and Andre Ingram also made 3-point baskets.

South Bay trailed 69-61 at halftime after leading 34-32 at the end of the first quarter before a crowd announced at 690.

The rebranding of the team formerly known as the Los Angeles D-Fenders was announced in January and coincided with its move from the Toyota Sports Center, which is also in El Segundo.

The league formerly known as the NBA Development League announced its rebranding in February in connection with an expanded partnership involving the NBA and the sports fuel company Gatorade.

South Bay will next play Saturday at the UCLA Health Training Center, facing the Austin Spurs, the San Antonio Spurs NBA G League affiliate.

The game has been designated as U.S. Air Force Night, with 75 suite tickets and four courtside seats donated to the U.S. Air Force. Twenty military personnel will stand with the Lakers on the court during the performance of the national anthem.

City News Service; Image via Pixabay