The Iowa Energy came back from a 13 point deficit on Saturday to beat the Grand Rapids Drive 85-83 in their home opener at Wells Fargo Arena.
“We were up and down, I thought we had moments where we looked good, we had moments where we didn’t have energy,” Donewald Jr. said.
Joel Wright’s Fourth Quarter Pushes Energy Past Drive
Lazeric Jones lead the team with 15 points and six assists, but that’s not what had Energy fans buzzing on Saturday Night. Fans watched Joel Wright draw four pairs of free throw attempts by playing physical in the paint.
“He was attacking, he was a live body at both ends of the floor,” Donewald Jr. said. “I thought Joel was a live body catalyst of what got us going.”
Joel Wright added a lay-up and a dunk to his fourth quarter inside-the-paint performance which helped him to 11 of his 14 points on the night.
“Different guys had to step up. I thought we had to move the ball more. I thought the ball was sticking a little bit, especially against the zone, but it started with our defense and that got our energy going.”
Wright also earned block and three steals on the defensive side of things, one of which lead to a electrifying dunk that put the Energy up by two possessions.
“I felt like I was the one tonight that had to step up and get the defense going and I think that’s what I did,” Wright said.
Cartier Martin scored 14 for Iowa and had a couple near misses, all in all not looking too far off. However, Perry Jones went 0/10 from the field and hung his second goose egg of the year in the scoring category.
“Cartier didn’t make shots, Perry didn’t make shots, and those are our older guys, so we went with a bit younger [guys.] I thought defensively, we got it going in the second half and got the win.” Donewald said.
The Energy will turn around to face 3-0 Fort Wayne in a battle of Undefeated’s on Sunday at Wells Fargo Arena. The game tips off at 4:00 pm.
