The Armor win two consecutive games for the first time since early December.
Armor forward Willie Reed looks to drive on Santa Cruz's Mickell Gladness Saturday at the MassMutual Center.
SPRINGFIELD - It hasn't happened since the third and fourth games of the season, but the Springfield Armor finally have their second two-game win streak.
Tornike Shengelia and Tyshawn Taylor combined for 50 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Armor to a 111-100 win over the Santa Cruz Warriors before 4,359 Saturday night at the MassMutual Center.
The wins over Santa Cruz (15-9) and Maine were not just positives for a Springfield team struggling for wins, but they were victories over two of the top teams in the D-League.
"It's nice to take care of home and obviously (Santa Cruz) had a tough deal, they played a heck of game last night in Maine then had to come here right after the game," Armor coach Bob MacKinnon said. "We have to do the same thing, turn around and play at 3 p.m. tomorrow (at Maine), but hopefully we have enough in the tank to get it done."
Shengelia, coming off a 39-point performance against Maine that tied the D-League mark for the most points in a game this season, was efficient on offense with 8 for 12 shooting for 24 points, and strong on the glass with 13 rebounds.
Over the last two games Shengelia is 25 for 33 from the field for 63 points and 31 rebounds.
"As a team I'm really glad we won both games, especially against Maine when we had won none against them," Shengelia said. "We came as a group and won the game."
Taylor scored 20 of his game-high 26 in the first half when the Armor went up by as many as 24 points and settled for a 69-52 halftime lead.
The first halves of Saturday's game and Thursday's contest could not have been much different for the Armor (8-15). Thursday the Armor fell behind by as many as 17 points in the first quarter and spent the rest of the half playing catch-up against Maine.
On Saturday it was all Springfield from the tip to the closing horn of the half, the Armor scoring a season-high 69 points in the half to take a 17-point lead on Santa Cruz.
Springfield shot 57 percent from the floor, hit 5 of 8 3-pointers and outrebounded the Warriors 23-14, including 10 offensive boards.
Willie Reed (16 points, 13 rebounds) led the way on the glass, the 6-foot-10 forward recording a double-double in the first half with 11 points and 10 rebounds, five on the offensive end.
"Willie was terrific and I thought (James) Mays came alive in that fourth quarter for us and I thought Carleton (Scott) made some big baskets for us," MacKinnon said. "I thought we got big-time contributions from a lot of people tonight."
The Warriors got as close as five with 2:36 left in the fourth, but Mays scored on three straight possessions for the Armor, the final basket an emphatic putback dunk off a Taylor miss with under a minute to play that pushed the lead back to nine, 107-98 and sealed the win.
Mays finished with 14 points and nine rebounds and Scott scored 18 points off the bench.
Maurice baker and Darington Hobson led the Warriors with 15 apiece.