The Santa Cruz Warriors blew a 25-point lead in an ugly 109-108 loss to the Reno Bighorns on Friday night at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
James Southerland led the Warriors (19-17) with a double-double, notching 27 points and 11 rebounds, while LaDontae Henton finished with 23 points, going 7-of-13 from deep, and Scott Wood added 13 points and six rebounds.
The loss dropped the Warriors eight and a half games back of the Los Angeles D-Fenders in the Pacific division standings and three games back of the No. 8 seed in the playoff standings.
Santa Cruz will try to rebound tonight at home against the Windy City Bulls at 7 p.m.
The Warriors got off to a dominant start on both ends of the floor in the opening frame, outscoring the Bighorns 34-11 and holding a 17-point lead at the break. But Reno fired back in the second half.
Gary Neal finished with a game-high 41 points and led a 17-7 third-quarter charge, energizing the Bighorns, who took the lead on a free throw from Sacramento Kings assignee Georgios Papagiannis at the 2:31-mark of the fourth quarter and held on.
