DES MOINES, Iowa – The Grand Rapids Gold handed the Iowa Wolves its first loss of the 2021-22 season on Monday night with a 121-110 win at Wells Fargo Arena.
Grand Rapids (2-2) held off a resilient Iowa (3-1) team that turned a 22-point deficit late in the third quarter into a six-point deficit just minutes into the final period. The Gold responded with six-straight points as the Wolves couldn’t pull any closer than 10 points.
Isaiah Miller scored a season-high 27 points off the bench for Iowa while McKinley Wright IV tallied 26 points. Miller recorded a double-double with 10 rebounds. In his final game before heading to join Team USA for the World Cup qualifying tournament, Brian Bowen II had 19 points. Bowen will return to the team after the tournament. Matt Lewis was the other Wolve in double figures with 13 points.
Nik Stauskas scored a game-high 29 points for Grand Rapids, which snapped a two-game losing streak. Davon Reed added 22 points and four others scored double-figures.
Wright’s three-pointer from the left wing gave Iowa its first lead at 26-25 in the first quarter. Iowa’s shooting went cold midway through the second quarter helping Grand Rapids take a 66-57 lead at half.
As a team, Iowa made 16 three-pointers in the game but 10 came in the first quarter. The Wolves finished at 37.2 percent (16-of-43) from three. Grand Rapids went 16-for-16 from the free throw line outscored Iowa 54-42 in the paint.