Preview: Charge go West to face champs

Flying to the West Coast and beating the defending champions can lift a club's spirits. Tuesday night, the Canton Charge get that chance.

The Charge (3-7) have lost four of five and are 0-4 on the road. Now, they get a crack at the Santa Cruz Warriors -- who not only one last year's title, but currently lead the Pacific Division with a record of 7-4.

Tip-off is 10 p.m. EST at the Kaiser Permanente Arena in Santa Cruz, Calif.

Canton does have a few reasons for hope.

Rookie point guard Quinn Cook has been fantastic, leading the team with 18.5 points, 4.0 assists and 41 percent shooting on 3-pointers.

Cavaliers assignee Joe Harris is averaging 17.6 points in eight games with the team. And center Michael Dunigan, swingman D.J. Stephens, forward Nick Minnerath and others are capable of big nights.

If everyone comes together in the same game … well, who knows? Maybe the underdog Charge can pull off a shocker.

But they will have to try to contain former NBA guard Elliot Williams, who once had a training camp cup of coffee with the Cavs. Williams is second in the D-League in scoring at 29.3 points per game.

So do the Charge have a chance? They likely think so. And they have to know a win here could get things going in the right direction quickly.

This is the first of a two-game California set for the Charge, who play at the Bakersfield Jam on Thursday.

-- Sam Amico