Pressey's Triple-Double Helps Warriors Top Skyforce

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Both Keith Benson and Bubu Palo notched double-doubles tonight, but that wasn’t enough as the Sioux Falls Skyforce (23-17) lost 115-98 to the Santa Cruz Warriors (21-17).

The Skyforce held a four-point lead at halftime, but the second half was all about the Warriors as the Skyforce shot just 35 percent in the half opposed to 40 percent in the first half. Henry Walker (18 points and seven rebounds) hit six three pointers in the first half as the Skyforce shot 47 percent from three in the half, but saw their percentage fall to 35.3 percent in the game.

Palo scored 16 points and dished out 11 assists while Benson recorded his league-leading 25th double-double of the season with 26 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Skyforce.

Denver Nuggets assignee Malik Beasley had 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting to go along with seven rebounds in the game. Benson, Walker, Palo and Beasley were the only

Force players to score in double figures in the contest.

Phil Pressey led the way for the Warriors with a 21-point, 19-assist, 15-rebound triple-double, while James Southerland scored a team-high 26 points to go along with 11 rebounds in the win. Dennis Clifford tallied 15 points and eight rebounds to round out the double figure scoring in the starting lineup.

Golden State Warriors assignee Damian Jones (10 points and six rebounds), Alex Hamilton (13 points), and LaDontae Henton (14 points) all came off the bench to score in double figures for Santa Cruz.

The Warriors led the Skyforce in points in the paint by a margin of 44-36, and outscored Sioux Falls 46-25 in fast break points on the night. Santa Cruz also outscored the Skyforce 22-15 in second chance points to round out a dominating second half performance.