Cleveland Charge taste defeat as record crowd looks on

Some nights everything goes right and some nights they don’t. That seemed to be the case as the Cleveland Charge went down in defeat to the Grand Rapids Gold 108-104 on Wednesday evening. It was Space Jam night with the first 1,000 fans receiving Space Jam jerseys courtesy of Nuevo. The crowd was a new record as 4,591 fans made their way to the Wolstein Center in downtown Cleveland to watch the game. The Cleveland Cavaliers Scream Team was also on hand to pass out jerseys prior to the game and to perform.

It was a tight match throughout the game as Cleveland just could not get settled into a working rhythm. Late in the fourth, Grand Rapids pulled ahead to close out the game as victors.

The bright spot of the evening was three Cleveland Charge players scored 20+ points. Mamadi Diakite scored 28 points with nine rebounds and three blocks. Isaiah Mobley was good for 23 points as he hit 10-of-11 along with seven boards and six assists in 37 minutes. Sharife Cooper scored 22 points with nine assists in 36 minutes.

Denver Nuggets assignment Peyton Watson had a game high 29 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field as well as nine boards and two blocks in 36 minutes. Jared Butler scored 24 points on 11-of-14 from the field with six assists in 26 minutes. Grant Golden earned a double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds in 39 minutes of play.

The Cleveland Charge will embark on a three-game road trip to start the new year with their first home game set for January 13, 2023 against the Wisconsin Herd. The game starts at 7:00 p.m. Fans can catch the games live on www.clevelandcharge.com or listen on NEO Sports Radio on the iHeartRadio mobile app.