GREEN BAY, Wis. - The Green Bay Phoenix (12-6, 5-2 HL) edged the Wright State Raiders (11-7, 4-3 HL) 68-66 Thursday night at the Resch Center in a battle of teams that entered the game tied for second in the Horizon League. With the victory, the Phoenix has won 15 straight Horizon League home games.
Randy Berry (Plover, Wis.) was the hero for the Phoenix. On Green Bay's final possession, he corralled his 10th rebound of the game after Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) missed a 15-foot floater along the left baseline. Berry attempted a putback and was fouled with 0.9 left and the score knotted at 66.
Berry sank both free throws and the Raiders were unable to secure a shot following a desperation long throw-in from the baseline. Green Bay is now 8-1 in games decided by single digits.
The Raiders owned a 35-28 lead with less than a minute left before halftime. WSU had a chance at the last possession, but turned it over on a traveling violation with 5 seconds remaining. It proved to be a key play for the Phoenix, as Fletcher banked in a 26-footer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to four at 35-31.
The Green Bay surge continued into the second half, as the Phoenix scored the first 13 points out of the stanza to take a 44-35 lead. In all, it was a 16-0 run for the Phoenix, its longest spurt of the season. In all, the Raiders were held scoreless for 7:22.
The Raiders chipped away and eventually knotted the score at 56. Berry, who was a perfect 9-for-9 from the charity stripe, sank a pair with 29 seconds left gave the Phoenix a 3-point lead (66-63), but Vaughn Duggins, who finished with a game-high 20, scored the equalizer by draining a trey from the top of the key with 22.4 seconds left.
Fletcher finished with 18 points, while Berry had a career-high 17 and a game-high 10 rebounds. It was his sixth double-double of the season, all in the past 13 games.
Green Bay shot better than 50 percent from the field (21 of 41) and went 22 of 26 from the free throw line (.846).
Green Bay is next in action on Saturday versus Detroit, which owns identical records at 12-6 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Game time is set for 7 p.m.
--GreenBayPhoenix.com--
