Santa Cruz Warriors hand Lakeland Magic fourth-straight loss

Friday
Jan 5, 2018 at 9:48 PM Jan 5, 2018 at 9:48 PM

The Lakeland Magic have officially hit their first rough patch.

Brady Fredericksen @brady_fred

LAKELAND — The Lakeland Magic have officially hit their first rough patch.

After opening the season with 13 wins in their first 18 games — including winning streaks of five and seven games — the Magic entered Friday’s game with the Santa Cruz Warriors on a three-game losing streak.

Make it four losses in a row.

Terrence Jones scored 24 points as the Warriors cruised past the Magic 104-93 in front of an announced crowd of 1,942 fans at the RP Funding Center.

“You can’t control offense; you can always control defense,” said Lakeland guard Troy Caupain. “That’s something we haven’t been doing, not only in this game, but the last three games. We’ve got to take more pride on defense and less pride on offense.”

While the Magic (13-9) have relied on their defense throughout the season, they just didn’t have the same edge on Friday. Santa Cruz jumped out to a 30-19 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.

Jones, who spent the past five years in the NBA, added 10 rebounds and six assists as Lakeland struggled to stop Santa Cruz's penetration. Jones and the Warriors bullied their way to 64 points in the paint.

“That’s a good team and they’re very talented,” said Magic head coach Stan Heath. “It’s a tough team to match up to when you’ve got Terrence Jones, who’s a pretty big dude, and Georges Niang as your three and your four.”

The Magic shot 39.1 percent from the field and missed 26 of their 36 shots from 3-point territory. Caupain led the way with 25 points and five assists while Rodney Purvis added 21 points.

The Warriors led by 11 after one quarter and added to it in the second.

Khem Birch’s floater helped cut the deficit to 41-35 with 7:21 to go in the second quarter, but it was as close as the Magic would get. The Warriors answered with a 15-4 run to extend their lead to 56-39 with just over a minute to go in the opening half.

That lead ballooned to as many as 23 points in the second half.

“We’ve just had kind of periods in the game where it just seems like we’ve slipped,” Heath said. “We’ve had some breakdowns on our defensive coverage and we hadn’t made some shots.”

Friday
Jan 5, 2018 at 9:48 PM Jan 5, 2018 at 9:48 PM

The Lakeland Magic have officially hit their first rough patch.

Brady Fredericksen @brady_fred

LAKELAND — The Lakeland Magic have officially hit their first rough patch.

After opening the season with 13 wins in their first 18 games — including winning streaks of five and seven games — the Magic entered Friday’s game with the Santa Cruz Warriors on a three-game losing streak.

Make it four losses in a row.

Terrence Jones scored 24 points as the Warriors cruised past the Magic 104-93 in front of an announced crowd of 1,942 fans at the RP Funding Center.

“You can’t control offense; you can always control defense,” said Lakeland guard Troy Caupain. “That’s something we haven’t been doing, not only in this game, but the last three games. We’ve got to take more pride on defense and less pride on offense.”

While the Magic (13-9) have relied on their defense throughout the season, they just didn’t have the same edge on Friday. Santa Cruz jumped out to a 30-19 lead after the first quarter and never looked back.

Jones, who spent the past five years in the NBA, added 10 rebounds and six assists as Lakeland struggled to stop Santa Cruz's penetration. Jones and the Warriors bullied their way to 64 points in the paint.

“That’s a good team and they’re very talented,” said Magic head coach Stan Heath. “It’s a tough team to match up to when you’ve got Terrence Jones, who’s a pretty big dude, and Georges Niang as your three and your four.”

The Magic shot 39.1 percent from the field and missed 26 of their 36 shots from 3-point territory. Caupain led the way with 25 points and five assists while Rodney Purvis added 21 points.

The Warriors led by 11 after one quarter and added to it in the second.

Khem Birch’s floater helped cut the deficit to 41-35 with 7:21 to go in the second quarter, but it was as close as the Magic would get. The Warriors answered with a 15-4 run to extend their lead to 56-39 with just over a minute to go in the opening half.

That lead ballooned to as many as 23 points in the second half.

“We’ve just had kind of periods in the game where it just seems like we’ve slipped,” Heath said. “We’ve had some breakdowns on our defensive coverage and we hadn’t made some shots.”

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