By Asha Doucet
The South Bay Lakers kicked off their season in an exhibition game against the Northern Arizona Suns.
The South Bay Lakers led by , and kicked off their season with a preseason matchup against the Northern Arizona Suns at the UCLA Health Training Center.
The S.B. Lakers took an early lead in the game going up 30-23 with 3:17 left in the first.
Bue quickly extended that lead to nine on a routine layup followed a defensive rebound that led to a putback layup for rookie .
It’s just preseason for South Bay but Blue continues to show off his ability to finish at the rim by bullying his way to the basket just like he did in Summer League with the Lakers NBA squad. At the end of one, the G League veteran led all scores with 10 and helped put South Bay up 40-28.
Zimmerman proved to be a monster on the boards in the first half and defended the basket well with nine rebounds and two blocked shots going into the third quarter.
? doing whatever he wants tonight.
— South Bay Lakers (@SouthBayLakers)
But it would be a S.B. Lakers group led by Bryant and Caruso that went on a run halfway into the second quarter and pushed their lead to as much as 18.
South Bay let up, however, and Northen Arizona cut the lead to 10 to end the half 61-51.
The S.B. Lakers got back under control and after four minutes went by in the 3rd they were back up by 13 with Caruso, Bryant and Vander on the floor.
South Bay let their lead slip away again as the N.A. Suns cut the lead to one with just over three minutes to go in the third. But the team’s second unit starring Drew League’s led the S.B. Lakers back to a seven-point lead early into the fourth. Session then helped push the subs to an 11-point lead with just under four minutes left in the game.
Northern Arizona made a late run but South Bay hung on to win 120-116.
Guard from Iono University was the team’s assist leader with nine on the night while Bryant led the team with 18 points followed by Session who added 17 off of the bench.
