SANTA CRUZ >> The Warriors had a chance to come away with not one, but two wins Friday night against the Iowa Wolves. And, by coming away with those wins, could declare their season a winner as well.

Instead, the Warriors’ cold start cost them double.

With a 113-111 loss in their replay of the final 17.5 seconds of a Jan. 19 game against Iowa that the Warriors successfully protested and a 112-101 loss in their regulation game, Santa Cruz cemented just its second losing season in team history.

The Warriors are 23-26 overall with just Saturday’s home game against the Reno Bighorns remaining in the season.

The protest game jump-started the action, putting both teams in do-or-die situation from the opening whistle.

Marking the first time in more than five years that the NBA had granted a protest, the Warriors were successful in arguing the referees had made a crucial error in their loss to Iowa on Jan. 19, costing them the game. When Santa Cruz had called a reset timeout with 17.5 seconds left and the teams tied at 111, officials had charged the Warriors with a regular timeout — of which they had none — and issued them a technical. The ruling, Santa Cruz argued, led to a 113-111 loss.

On Friday the result was the same, even if it played out differently.

Santa Cruz got the ball under its own basket when the game restarted, but Iowa’s Justin Patton stole the ball from Jabari Brown and turned it into a layup and the only points the Wolves needed.

Santa Cruz started the regulation game with nearly an identical lineup to the five who had played in the replay, only swapping in Chris Boucher, a two-way player with the Golden State Warriors, for C.J. Wilcox at forward.

The strategy proved to be a poor one. Iowa went on a 14-2 run to start the game before coach Aaron Miles inserted an entirely new lineup with 9:15 left in the first quarter.

That group — Avry Holmes, Terrance Jones, Trevor Thompson, Wilcox and Kevin Young — proceeded to go on an 8-0 run to pull within a basket of the Wolves, 29-27.

But Iowa broke open the second quarter with a 17-7 run and never let the Warriors closer than seven in securing the victory.

Terrance Jones led the Warriors with 18 points and six rebounds. Boucher added 14 points and Michael Gbinije, Jeremy Pargo and Holmes all had 12. Pargo finished with 11 assists, his eighth straight with 10 or more.

Santa Cruz, which still leads the G League in shooting percentage with 50.3 percent, shot just 44.4 percent for the game and a paltry 27.3 percent from the 3-point arc. The Wolves, meanwhile, shot 51.1 and 40.7 percent, respectively.

Amile Jefferson, a two-way player with the Minnesota Timberwolves, led all scorers with 23 points. Elija Milsap, Shawne Williams and Marquise Moore all added 16.

The Wolves (24-25) are one spot ahead of Santa Cruz in the Western Conference standings and also did not make the playoffs.

One bright spot was Santa Cruz newcomer Young, who signed with the Warriors on March 15. Young turned in a couple of highlight-reel performances, including a steal-and-dunk late in the second quarter.

Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.