GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Brian Wardle has been preaching defense and rebounding since he was hired last April, and his team is certainly listening. While holding its fifth-straight opponent below 40 percent from the field and holding a rebounding edge for its seventh-straight game Saturday, Green Bay (10-9, 4-3 HL) built a 20-point halftime lead and cruised to a 74-50 win over visiting UIC (5-14, 0-7 HL) in Horizon League play at the Resch Center. The Phoenix completed its four-game homestand with a perfect 4-0 record and has won six of its last eight games overall.

"We really, really defended at a high level. We were very active, very aggressive and turned them over," Wardle said. "We are starting guard a lot better and we won the rebounding war against the number two rebounding team in our league. The things that we have been working on and stressing are slowly coming together now. We just have to keep plugging away."

The Phoenix held the visiting Flames to just 39.2 percent shooting, including a 9-for-26 effort in the opening half, and held UIC without a three-point field goal make in 12 tries. The contest marked the first time since Feb. 20, 1999 at Butler when a Green Bay opponent failed to make a three-pointer.

UIC senior guard and leading scorer Robo Kreps did not score in the opening half and finished the game with just four points on 1-of-9 shooting, including 0-for-6 from long range.

"I think they got a couple of open looks but that is about it," said Wardle of the three-point defense. "I thought we did a good job having high, active hands and challenging shots. We had a stretch [earlier this year] where I was looking at it thinking, 'we are not guarding as bad as the stats say'. We have done a good job [of late] setting the tone early in games with how we are going to play defensively and not letting teams get comfortable and confident shooting the three."

Led by seniors Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) and Bryquis Perine (Milwaukee, Wis.), Green Bay was sharp on both ends of the floor in the first half. Fletcher scored 10 of the team's first 12 points, Perine totaled five points during a 12-2 run midway through the half, and the duo combined for Green Bay's final 13 points as the Phoenix went into the locker room with a 42-22 lead.

"We just had to be aggressive. This was an early game that we were not used to, and the team that had the higher motor and the higher energy was going to win today," said Fletcher of the unusual 11 a.m. start time.

The pair combined for 31 points in the half, including 17 from Fletcher and 14 more from Perine on a combined 11-for-18 shooting overall and 6-for-11 from long range. Fletcher finished with 20 points while Perine chipped in 16 points and five assists as the two guards carried less of the scoring load after the break.

"A great performance by our seniors tonight," said Wardle. "I thought Perine was outstanding running the show and leading our team and controlling the tempo with sound decisions. When [Fletcher and Perine] are clicking like they were tonight we tough to guard, but when they are defending like they were tonight, we are tough to score on too. Tonight was fun to see in the first half what our capabilities are when we play that hard and guard and push the ball and knock down shots."

The second half did not start as well for the Phoenix, and UIC closed the deficit to 11 (51-40) with 12:22 to play, but sophomore Seth Evans (Seneca, Ill.) drilled two threes and scored all nine of Green Bay's points during a 9-2 run to build the lead back to 18.

Junior Jarvis Williams (Milwaukee, Wis.) registered the highlight of the night with 3:35 remaining, flushing home a dunk off an alley-oop pass from junior Steve Baker (St. Paul, Minn.). Williams finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

Freshman Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.), after being limited by foul trouble in the team's last two games, registered a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds in 29 minutes of action. He helped Green Bay hold a 39-37 edge on the glass, including 15 offensive rebounds.

"It was another good team win. We did what we needed to do and had to do and that was hold home court going into this next road trip which is going to be a great challenge for us," Wardle said. "It has been a good run and we are playing better."

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 74, UIC 50

UIC (5-14, 0-7 HL)
BIRTON,Brad 5-8 2-2 12; CARTER,Paul 5-14 1-2 11; WILLIAMS,Darrin 3-5 2-4 8; ROBBINS,KC 3-6 0-0 6; CARTER,Paris 2-2 1-3 5; KREPS,Robo 1-9 2-3 4; GRAY,Corey 0-1 2-4 2; SINGH,Dipanjot 1-4 0-0 2; TYLER,Dorian 0-1 0-0 0; KING,Shawn 0-1 0-0 0; RASUL,Arman 0-0 0-0 0; DENARD,Eddie 0-0 0-0 0; KELLEY,Anthony 0-0 0-0 0; HARDING,Jimmy 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-51 10-18 50.

GREEN BAY (10-9, 4-3 HL)
FLETCHER, Rahmon 7-12 3-5 20; PERINE, Bryquis 5-10 3-3 16; BROWN, Alec 5-12 1-4 11; EVANS, Seth 3-6 1-1 9; WILLIAMS, Jarvis 4-8 0-1 8; TURNER, Daniel 2-6 1-3 5; HEUER, Clayton 1-2 1-2 3; SEMENAS, Derek 1-1 0-0 2; LESAGE, Greg 0-1 0-0 0; CERRONI, Kam 0-1 0-0 0; SNYDER, Troy 0-0 0-0 0; VALENTIN, Eric 0-1 0-0 0; BAKER, Steve 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-60 10-19 74.

UIC..............................   22   28  -   50
Green Bay.....................   42   32  -   74