GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - It may have only been an exhibition game, but Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.) will probably
never forget his first basketball game at the Resch Center. The 7-foot-1 freshman
scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in just 19 minutes of play Monday
night to lead the Green Bay men's basketball team to a 78-55 victory over
visiting Edgewood.
Brown
scored his 17 points on just seven shots, connecting on five of them. He scored
11 points in the opening half, hitting 2-of-4 field goals and 7-of-8 free
throws in 12 minutes.
"I
thought today he had a good mindset, and making your first shot always helps,"
said head coach Brian Wardle of
Brown. "He did a really good job of being aggressive from the start. I think
Alec is only going to get better. He is growing confidence and the guys have a
ton of confidence in him. He is getting it and figuring it all out, and I think
Phoenix fans are going to really enjoy watching him play in years to come."
Playing
for the first time at the Resch under Wardle, Green Bay's first-year head coach,
the Phoenix responded well to early adversity and rolled to a victory. Green
Bay trailed only once (18-17) with 6:43 left in the opening half, but the hosts
got a combined 14 points from Brown and senior Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) during a 20-5 run to end the
half. After keeping Edgewood scoreless over the final 3:23 of the period, Green
Bay led 37-23 at the break.
"I
was happy with the first exhibition and a couple of things that I have been
stressing with rebounding and deflections and being active with our hands,"
said Wardle. "We did a better job of that [tonight]. We probably settled for
too many jump shots early, but once we got dialed into what we were trying to
do, we got to the rim more and got inside. We made a run before the half and
the guys responded."
Led
by Brown, Green Bay asserted itself early and often in the paint and at the
free throw line. Three layups inside - one apiece from Brown and junior Jarvis Williams (Milwaukee, Wis.) and Steve
Baker (St. Paul, Minn.) - gave the
Phoenix a 6-0 lead three minutes in, and the inside dominance continued
throughout.
Green
Bay held a 20-4 edge in points in the paint in the opening half and a 38-14
advantage in the category for the game. Led by Baker's seven, the Phoenix also
held a 40-30 edge on the glass and turned 15 offensive rebounds into 17
second-chance points.
"I'm
happy about it," Wardle said about the team's rebounding. "There is still room
to improve, but we are trying to get to the weakside and we are trying to
create more opportunities for us to score."
Fletcher
struggled from the field early, but the All-Horizon League preseason pick
finished with 12 points and two steals in 22 minutes of play. He was also high
on what he saw from his tallest teammate.
"I
knew he was an athletic 7-foot-1 and I have been saying since the beginning of
the season that he just had to get that rhythm of playing full speed," said
Fletcher. "We knew he was a skilled seven footer, and he could shoot the ball,
but it was just that confidence factor that he needed as far as getting on the
floor at the Division I level. He can only go up and I am looking forward to seeing
the growth that he can have mentally and physically."
Getting
four points apiece from Fletcher, Williams and Brown, Green Bay carried its
momentum from the first half into the second 20 minutes, starting the half on a
16-5 run to build its lead to 24 with 13:07 remaining.
After
a scoreless first half, senior Bryquis
Perine hit 4-of-8 shots in the
second to finish with nine points and four assists. Williams, a junior college
transfer, added eight points and five rebounds for the Phoenix, who got a field
from each of its 12 players that saw action.
Green
Bay will officially open its 2010-11 season on Saturday, hosting Minnesota
Duluth at the Kress Events Center at 2 p.m. For more information on individual
game tickets or season tickets or Pick 5 packages, please visit GreenBayPhoenix.com/tickets or call the Green Bay ticket office at 920.465.2625.
Box Score
Edgewood
vs Green Bay
11/8/10
7:00 PM at Green Bay, Wis. (Resch Center)
At
Green Bay, Wis. (Resch Center)
GREEN BAY 78, EDGEWOOD 55
EDGEWOOD
Wisniewski,
Ben 6-14 3-5 17; Faurote, Kent 4-6 1-3 10; Craig, Cash 3-7 0-0 7; Barczak, Jeff
2-5 2-2 6; Williams, Justin 1-2 3-4 5; Sperka, Mitch 1-1 0-0 3; Cates, Tony 1-4
0-0 2; Gehring, Michael 1-4 0-0 2; Schaaf, Travis 0-0 2-2 2; Nkemnji, Derek 0-1
1-2 1; Leadholm, Shane 0-0 0-0 0; Tarver-Burkes,Luther 0-0 0-0 0; Thein, Luke 0-1
0-1 0; Chase, Greg 0-0 0-0 0; Guziewski, Jake 0-0 0-0 0; Janusek, Michael 0-1
0-0 0; Sullivan, Bryan 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-46 12-19 55.
GREEN BAY
BROWN,
Alec 5-7 7-8 17; FLETCHER, Rahmon 4-12 4-4 12; PERINE, Bryquis 4-10 1-1 9;
WILLIAMS, Jarvis 3-8 2-2 8; LESAGE, Greg 2-3 3-4 7; SEMENAS, Derek 2-2 0-0 5;
EVANS, Seth 1-5 2-2 5; SNYDER, Troy 2-5 0-0 4; BAKER, Steve 2-5 0-0 4; CERRONI,
Kam 1-2 0-0 3; HEUER, Clayton 1-2 0-0 2; VALENTIN, Eric 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 28-63
19-22 78.
EDGEWOOD...................... 23
32 - 55
GREEN BAY........................ 37
41 - 78
