South Bay Lakers Fall in Showcase Cup Opener

The South Bay Lakers played in their first NBA G League Winter Showcase Cup game against the Rip City Remix as they lost 105-333, on Friday night. Quinndary Weatherspoon led the Lakers (0-1), in scoring with 21 points. Duop Reath paced the Remix (1-0), scoring 37 points.

It was a battle between South Bay’s Scotty Pippen Jr., and the Remix’s Reath to open the first frame, with the pair going back and forth, scoring 16 of the first 18 points of the contest. The remainder of the period continued to be very tight, with South Bay trailing, 26-30, after one. Pippen Jr. finished with 13 after the first frame, his highest ever scoring first quarter and the third best scoring quarter of his NBA G League career.

The Remix came out firing in the second period, starting the frame on a 19-6 run to open up a 15-point lead halfway through the period. South Bay briefly cut down that lead to 11 before Rip City caught fire again, finishing the quarter on a 20-7 run, and taking a 71-45 lead into the break. Pippen Jr. and Bryce Hamilton led the way for South Bay at half, with 15 and 12 points respectively. Reath continued his impressive night, scoring another 12 in the frame, bringing his total to 21 for the half. Kris Murray contributed 12 over the course of the first two quarters for the Remix.

The third quarter continued to be a struggle for the Lakers to find an offensive rhythm, as they accumulated more defensive stops but couldn’t get going on the other end. This led to the Rip City lead largely staying where it was for much of the quarter. Two-way Remix player Reath put up another 16 in the quarter. Jack White had the hot hand for the Lakers, scoring eight in period. South Bay trailed 73-102 going into the final frame.

The fourth quarter saw South Bay continue to compete on both ends of the floor, showing no quit until the final seconds. The Lakers won the final frame, 32-31, with help from nine Quinndary Weatherspoon points and Joirdon Nicholas providing a nice seven-point spark off the bench.

Weatherspoon put together a final line of 22 points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal. Pippen Jr. added 19 points, four rebounds, three steals, two assists and one blocked shot. Hamilton contributed 16 points off the bench. For the Remix, Reath scored 37 points, and grabbed 10 rebounds. Justin Minaya and Murray put up 19 and 18 points respectively.

South Bay will face off in a rematch against the Rip City Remix tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 11 at 5:00pm from the UCLA Health Training Center.