INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Trailing by 21 with 9:42 remaining Friday night,
Green Bay (10-10, 4-4 HL) refused to quit in a hostile environment. In fact, a rimmed
out three-pointer by senior Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas, City, Mo.) with 35 seconds may have been the only thing
that prevented the Phoenix from pulling off an improbable comeback Friday night
at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
In
the end, 20 points off the bench from junior Steve Baker (St. Paul, Minn.) and 18 from Fletcher were not enough for
Green Bay to defeat Butler (14-6, 6-2 HL) and end the Bulldogs 14-game home win
streak in Horizon League play, as the Phoenix fell 81-75 to end a four-game
Green Bay winning streak.
Butler
turned an eight-point halftime edge into the 21-point lead thanks in large part
to the play of senior Matt Howard. The 6-foot-9 forward, who finished with 29
points and 16 rebounds, scored eight points in the opening minutes of the
second half, and three Butler long balls gave the Bulldogs a 66-45 lead.
Fletcher
scored five points during a 15-4 run that freshman Alec Brown (Winona,
Minn.) capped with his second three-pointer of the season and made it 72-62
with 5:10 to play. Brown, limited to just five minutes in the first half due to
foul trouble, scored seven of his nine points in the second half.
Butler
responded to make it a 12-point lead before the Phoenix scored eight unanswered
points and cut the deficit to four with 1:53 on the clock. After two Ronald
Nored free throws, Baker drilled his fourth three-pointer of the night to make
it 78-75 with 41 ticks remaining, setting the stage for what was ultimately the
deciding play.
After
a Brian Wardle timeout, Jarvis Williams (Milwaukee, Wis.) deflected
the Butler inbounds pass for a Phoenix steal. Green Bay found Fletcher on the left
wing, but the three-point try from the all-conference guard went in-and-out.
Fletcher
had just three points at the break, but he hit seven of his 11 shots in the second
half and lead the Green Bay comeback. He added three assists and three steals
to his 17th double-figure scoring effort of the season.
Green
Bay jumped out to an early 22-13 lead in the opening half on the strength of three
makes from long range and seven early points from redshirt freshman Clayton Heuer. Butler responded to tie the game at 24, and the Bulldogs
used a 14-5 run to take a 40-32 lead at intermission. Baker and Heuer combined
for 20 first-half points for the Phoenix.
A
quick trip to Northwestern Indiana will put the Phoenix back in action on
Sunday, taking on league-leading Valparaiso at 12 p.m. CST.
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.
BUTLER 81,
GREEN BAY 75
GREEN BAY
(10-10 (4-4 HL))
BAKER, Steve 7-11 2-3 20; FLETCHER, Rahmon 7-15 3-4
18; PERINE, Bryquis 4-12 3-3 11; BROWN, Alec 4-6 0-1 9; HEUER, Clayton 3-6 0-0
7; TURNER, Daniel 2-6 1-3 5; EVANS, Seth 1-1 0-1 3; LESAGE, Greg 1-1 0-0 2;
WILLIAMS, Jarvis 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 29-60 9-17 75.
BUTLER
(14-6 (6-2 HL))
HOWARD, Matt 8-16 13-17 29; MACK, Shelvin 5-13 3-8 14;
SMITH, Andrew 5-5 2-3 12; HAHN, Zach 3-6 0-0 9; MARSHALL, Khyle 4-7 0-3 8;
VANZANT, Shawn 1-3 0-0 3; STIGALL, Chase 1-2 0-0 3; NORED, Ronald 0-1 3-5 3;
ANGLIN, Alex 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-53 21-36 81.
GREEN
BAY..................... 32 43
- 75
BUTLER.......................... 40
41 - 81
