YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - For the second straight game in Ohio, the Green Bay Phoenix (15-7, 7-3 HL) played a game with no lead changes, and this time it was in favor of the Phoenix, who pulled away for a 69-55 win over the Youngstown State Penguins (7-12, 2-8) Sunday afternoon at the Beeghly Center.
Green Bay built a 23-16 lead by the 8:30 mark of the first half by making a living at the free throw line in the early going. The Phoenix connected on 9 of 10 attempts during that time.
Troy Cotton (Milwaukee, Wis.) swished his first two 3-pointers of the game less than four minutes in, and continued his scoring outburst, as he had 14 in the opening half on 4 of 8 3-point shooting. As a team, the Phoenix shot just 37 percent in the stanza, but scored 16 points off Penguin turnovers.
Youngstown State hung around in the second half, but Green Bay utilized back-to-back 3-pointers by Cotton and Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) to turn a 7-point lead into a 13-point advantage with 4 ½ minutes to play in the game. Green Bay held YSU without a field goal for eight minutes, beginning at the 10:32 mark to help increase its lead.
Cotton (23 points) finished with a career-high seven threes and moved past Ryan Tillema into second place on the school's all-time 3-pointers made list with 234.
Randy Berry (Plover, Wis.) totaled 11 points and a game-high nine boards.
Green Bay controlled the backboards, holding a 36-21 lead on the glass.
The Phoenix returns to the Resch Center Friday night when it hosts Butler. Game time for the ESPNU contest is set for 8 p.m. (CT).
--GreenBayPhoenix.com--
