Shorthanded Charge Dealt First Loss

Sharife Cooper With an INSANE 42 PT Performance against Grand Rapids Gold - YouTube

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Cleveland Charge (4-1) were handed their first loss of the season, falling 122-116 to the Grand Rapids Gold (1-4) at the Van Andel Arena on Tuesday night.

Sharife Cooper had a stellar game for the Charge, scoring 42 points, including 21 in each half, plus 12 assists and a pair of steals in 40 minutes.  Jordan Allen came off the bench for Cleveland to pour in 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting in 30 minutes of relief.  Sam Merrill hit 4-of-8 threes and finished with 16 points.  Nate Hinton posted a double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds with a pair of blocks in 43 minutes.  Rashad Vaughn scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds and nabbed three steals in 31 minutes.

Cleveland had eight players available for the game and faced a deficit of as many as 17 in the first half.  Down 58-44 and 3:33 left in the second quarter, the Charge rolled off a 12-4 run to end the half and get back within six at 62-56.  The visitors continued their momentum to start the third quarter, making another run of 10-0 to pull ahead 66-62.  Cleveland pulled ahead 69-64 before Grand Rapids bounced back with a 16-2 run of their own to go ahead for good.  The Charge got within one possession on three occasions during the stretch run, but couldn’t take the lead again.

The Gold were led by Jared Butler’s 23 points and nine assists in 35 minutes.  Kellan Grady added 21 points on 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range and two steals in 45 minutes.  Trevon Duval scored 19 points in 16 minutes of relief.  Grand Rapids hit 54% from the field as a team and 50% from three-point range while outscoring the Charge from the free-throw line 23-11.

Cleveland is back home with a matchup versus the Iowa Wolves this Thursday, November 17^th at 7:00 p.m. – The first 2,000 fans will receive a Charge Rally Towel plus postgame autographs and free throws with tickets starting at just $5! Fans can watch the game live on ESPN+ or listen to the action live on NEO Sports Radio on the iHeartRadio mobile app.

###

ABOUT ROCK ENTERTAINMENT GROUP:

Rock Entertainment Group is the umbrella entity of the teams and venues that are part of Dan Gilbert’s Rock Family of Companies.  It includes the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers, the AHL Cleveland Monsters, the NBA G League Charge and Cavs Legion of the NBA 2K League; the operation of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Legion Lair Lit by TCP home of Cavs Legion in Cleveland and Cleveland Clinic Courts - the Cavaliers’ training and development center in Independence, Ohio. As the unified brand platform, Rock  Entertainment Group formally links multiple sports, venues, music, and content properties together to better position them collectively for collaboration, growth and new opportunities, while relentlessly creating amazing experiences for fans, teams, partners, stakeholders and thousands of staff members across the full spectrum of properties.