GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Freshman Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.) totaled 19 points, seven rebounds and a school-record eight blocks Monday night, helping Green Bay (5-7) overcome a 12-point second half deficit and rally past visiting North Dakota (4-8) 72-68 at the Resch Center.

"I think Alec Brown is coming out of his shell a little bit right now. He is one of our most consistent players on the team," said head coach Brian Wardle. "I know what I am getting from him every night we play, and tonight was a game where he built on his Wisconsin game (18 points last Monday)."

The Phoenix came out of halftime trailing by 10 and fell behind by 12 two minutes in, but the team started chipping away from there. Five-straight points from Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) started an 8-2 run that cut the deficit in half at the 14:28 mark.

Four different players then scored during an 8-0 spurt minutes later as Green Bay gave the game its first tie (52-52) with 8:56 to play.

The teams went back and forth over the next five minutes before Brown and teammate Bryquis Perine (Milwaukee, Wis.) teamed up on the play of the night, giving the hosts the lead for good with 4:23 on the clock.

Perine drove left and got stuck in the air while bobbling the ball, but before landing out of bounds was able to find Brown in the paint. The freshman did the rest, scoring and getting fouled for a three-point play that put the Phoenix ahead, 61-58.

With his team still up three after both squads traded free throws, Brown blocked a North Dakota shot which led to a Perine jumper and a five-point edge, and the Phoenix closed out the contest from there.

"When you block shots it is kind of a momentum swing," Wardle said. "It is kind of like a dunk offensively. It gives you the momentum and gets the crowd into it. Alec was very aggressive on defense tonight, and I really like that."

Green Bay led early Monday night, but North Dakota used a 16-2 run midway through the opening frame to turn a 13-8 deficit into a 24-15 lead. Two Fighting Sioux free throws with 18 ticks on the clock gave North Dakota a 37-27 lead at the break.

The Phoenix struggled in the opening 20 minutes, shooting 8-of-22 from the field and committing 10 turnovers. Fletcher and Perine, the team's senior guards and leading scorers, struggled while scoring just four points in the half while shooting 2-of-7 from the field.

"It was a tale of two halves. The halftime speech was not anything spectacular, it was not a yelling halftime speech," said Wardle. "It was more of a give confidence speech. I thought we were very shaky in the first half, and it started with our seniors. The seniors really responded in the second half, and we need those two guys to respond with their playing experience."

While Brown's stat line will catch the headlines, Fletcher and Perine's second-half play may have been more valuable. The seniors combined to score 25 points and dish out seven assists after the break.

Fletcher finished with 16 points, four assists and two steals while Perine scored all 13 of his points in the second half and added five assists while going 4-for-7 from the field.

Green Bay outscored the Fighting Sioux by 19 points at the free throw line, hitting 30-of-39 compared to 11-for-22 for North Dakota. Brown knocked down his first 10 attempts before finishing 10-for-13 while Fletcher was 7-of-10 from the charity stripe.

Green Bay returns to the road and quickly is back to action on Wednesday, playing at Wyoming at 8 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. 

GREEN BAY 72, NORTH DAKOTA 68

NORTH DAKOTA (4-8)
SCHULER, Josh 8-12 1-3 22; HUFF, Troy 6-13 2-4 14; WEBB, Jamal 3-9 4-4 11; BREKKE, Brandon 4-4 0-0 8; MITCHELL, Patrick 2-3 1-3 5; ANDERSON, Aaron 1-3 2-3 5; BENTER, Derek 1-6 0-0 2; ALLARD, Jordan 0-2 1-4 1; ARCHER, Doug 0-0 0-1 0; CLAUSEN, Chris 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-53 11-22 68.

GREEN BAY (5-7)
BROWN, Alec 4-8 10-13 19; FLETCHER, Rahmon 4-11 7-10 16; PERINE, Bryquis 4-7 4-4 13; WILLIAMS, Jarvis 4-5 3-6 11; TURNER, Daniel 2-4 4-4 8; CERRONI, Kam 1-6 0-0 3; EVANS, Seth 0-1 2-2 2; LESAGE, Greg 0-1 0-0 0; BAKER, Steve 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-43 30-39 72.

North Dakota..................   37   31  -   68
Green Bay.......................   27   45  -   72