MOTOR CITY CRUISE BACK IN THE WIN COLUMN

GRAND RAPIDS – After losing two games in a row, Coach Bakker and his squad were hungry for a win. The Cruise were short-handed coming into tonight’s game. They only had eight active players in their lineup, but that did not stop them from playing well tonight. The Motor City Cruise won over Grand Rapids Gold with a score of 103-91.

The game started as a back-and-forth contest, and the Gold led 21-20 to end the first quarter. There were five lead changes and six ties in the quarter alone. Then to begin the second quarter, Grand Rapids went on a quick 4-0 run in hopes to keep extending their lead. However, the Cruise responded quickly with a 15-4 run. At the end of the first half, the Cruise led 50-39. Stanley Umude finished the first half with 19 points. Kyler Edwards followed up with 11 to finish the half. After Motor City’s successful second quarter, the Cruise never trailed in the second half.

Stanley Umude finished with a career high night, leading Motor City to victory. Umude scored 35 points after shooting 13-25 from the floor (6-12 beyond the arc). He secured his second double-double of the regular season after grabbing 11 rebounds. Kyler Edwards followed up with 17 points.

For Grand Rapids, Kellan Grady led the Gold with 23 points. Grady shot 10-20 from the floor (3-9 beyond the arc). Peyton Watson followed up with 21 points. Lastly, ShawnDre Jones’s former NCAA teammate, Grant Golden finished the night as the leading rebounder for Grand Rapids (10 total).

The Motor City Cruise improved to 12-13 and Grand Rapids Gold fell to 7-17. Prior to tonight’s win, the Cruise trailed by 1.5 games behind the sixth seed, Capital City Go-Go in the Eastern Conference. The Cruise will continue their road trip and look to keep their playoff hopes alive, as they take on the Long Island Nets (20-3), Tuesday March 7^th, at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Long Island, New York). Tip-off is slated for 11:00am EST. The game can be seen at https://gleague.nba.com/.