Cleveland Charge open up beating Mad Ants 120-83: Luke Travers stars

(Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)

Cleveland Oh. –  The Charge opened their season with a huge win over the Indiana Mad Ants 120-83. A rousing start to Head Coach Chris Darnell’s first game as head coach.

“I knew we had a good group with a lot of experience, but with this being the first game, and not really having film on our opponent, the last couple days I was in my head wondering what have we not covered?” 

The Charge covered just about everything as they controlled the game from the beginning. Holding the Mad Ants to 43 points in the first half, the Charge started the game holding the Mad Ants to 12% shooting from three. Forward Luke Travers, the Australian draft pick by the Cavs played meaningful minutes and talked about how defensively he was happy with his effort. “I feel like that’s one of my strengths at the moment. I think that’s what can get me to the next level.” Travers finished the game with 5 steals as he filled the box up. His numbers across the board, 24 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists to go with the 5 steals. A complete game and while he didn’t say it, I will say, it looked relatively easy for him at this level. When asked how it was for him getting extended minutes Travers said, “I wanted to play confidently and get teammates involved. I think I did a pretty decent job, and I want to build on that tomorrow.” 

This was a great start to the season for the Charge. They will play the Mad Ants tomorrow, and Coach Darnell was already thinking about tomorrow’s game. “Great job. You guys won, but they will be better tomorrow. There’s more work to do” 

The Charge seem to have a wealth of players who can do plenty of things. Led by Travers, but also having guys like Elijah Hughes who came off the bench and scored 22 points (5/10 from 3). They got contributions from Jules Benard who was a +28 in his 28 minutes on the court. The Charge used their length on defense, and outside shooting to score and get in transition. I know Coach Darnell would like more of that! Great way to start the season for the Charge. Let’s see if they can continue winning tomorrow at 2pm, right back at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.