KENT, Ohio - Bryquis Perine (Milwaukee, Wis.) capped his
career night with a miracle 3-pointer as time expired to give Green Bay a wild
87-86 overtime win over host school Kent State in the Hispanic College Fund
Classic. It moved the Phoenix to 2-1 in a hotly-contested tournament.
Following a time out with 2.7 seconds left in extra time, the
final score came off a long in-bounds pass from Seth Evans (Seneca, Ill.) that Troy Cotton (Milwaukee, Wis.) knocked away from a Kent State defender. The ball
rolled toward the right wing and Perine alertly picked it up and launched a
22-footer that hit nothing but net, setting off a frenzied celebration.
"I didn't even see the shot go in," said head coach Tod Kowalczyk. "I thought it was a turnover and I was heading down to shake hands
with (Kent State head coach) Gino Ford. The basketball gods were with us
tonight."
Kent State had gone ahead by two, matching its largest lead
of the game, with 2.7 left after a driving bucket by Rodriquez Sherman. The
Golden Flashes had forced overtime with a basket by Chris Singletary with 1.8
ticks remaining. Kent State battled back from a 15-point second half deficit on
its home floor.
Perine scored a career-high 20 points, while Cotton matched
his career best with 25 on 6 of 10 shooting from 3-point range. Green Bay's
third starting guard, Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) added 17 and was named
to the all-tournament team. The trio was a combined 25-of-45 (.556) from the
floor.
As a team, Green Bay shot better than 50 percent from the
field for the second straight day (33-for-61), and made double-digit threes for
the second time in a row.
"We deserved to win this game," Kowalczyk said. "It was as
good of a college basketball game as you will ever see. Two teams just played
extremely hard and extremely well."
Green Bay concludes tournament action Monday at 6 p.m. ET/5
p.m. CT against Rochester (Mich.). It tips off its home season Wednesday night
against Northern Michigan at the Resch Center.
--www.GreenBayPhoenix.com--
