VALPARAISO, Ind. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - When Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.) is on the floor, the
7-foot-1 freshman has the ability to dominate basketball games. On Sunday
afternoon, Brown did just that, scoring 13 points in the final 15 minutes to
lead Green Bay (11-10, 5-4 HL) from a 10-point deficit to a 63-61 road win over
league-leading Valparaiso (15-6, 7-2 HL) in Horizon League action.
"We
had Jarvis [Williams] and Alec on the floor today," said head coach Brian Wardle. "Jarvis responded in the second half, and Alec Brown makes
a better team when he is on the floor. It was a huge team effort today, and
guys had to respond. Seth Evans played great D and made big plays for us. Our
bench has been great for us."
Both
teams struggled offensively in the opening 20 minutes, but Valpo scored the final
11 points of the half to lead 25-18 at the break, and a Ryan Broekhoff three on
the first possession of the second gave the Crusaders a 10-point edge with
19:35 to play.
A
13-5 Green Bay run included five-straight points from Brown and cut the deficit
to two (33-31). The Phoenix could not take the lead over the next six minutes,
but Seth Evans drained a three with 8:46 to play, starting an 11-0 run that
Williams capped with a jumper with 2:02 to play. Williams, who scored all 10 of
his points after halftime, gave the visitors a 54-47 lead with the jumper late
in the shot clock.
Wardle
also switched to playing a zone defense at times during the second half, and the
Green Bay defense held the Crusaders to 0-for-9 from the field during the spurt.
Broekhoff drained two three-pointers late, and his last triple cut the lead to
one with one second left, but Brown went 4-for-4 from the line late to help
seal the victory.
"I
found a rotation in the second half that was working and I went with it. I give
a lot of credit to my staff because I told them before the game, 'you have to
make me play zone'. That was the MVP call of the game from our assistant
coaches. We kept ourselves in the game because we guarded. As long as we
compete defensively and rebound, we can stay in every game."
With
senior guard Bryquis Perine (Milwaukee, Wis.) being limited
to 18 minutes and held scoreless due to an early ankle injury, and fellow
senior Rahmon Fletcher (Milwaukee, Wis.) scoring 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting, Wardle
needed his frontline and the bench to pick up the slack.
Brown,
who had two points and zero rebounds at halftime, scored 13 points in the second
half on 3-for-4 shooting from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 effort from the line.
The freshman also added six rebounds and blocked three shots in 17 second-half
minutes.
He
combined with Williams and freshman Daniel
Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) to give
the Phoenix 32 points, 20 rebounds and four blocks from its starting frontline.
Freshman Clayton Heuer (Wisconsin
Rapids, Wis,.) added six points and a block off the team's bench.
Sophomore
Seth Evans (Seneca, Ill.) tallied eight points and hit all five of his
free throws off the bench, helping the Phoenix reserves outscore their
counterparts 21-5. Green Bay hit 17 of its 21 free-throw attempts.
"I
love them because they always respond," Wardle said of his team. "You do not
have to go in there and yell at halftime because they are hard on themselves
already. Rahmon's leadership at the half was huge, and he did not come out of
the game after halftime and helped us win.
With
a difficult road trip in the books, Green Bay returns home to host Wright State
and Detroit next weekend. The Phoenix will host Wright State on Friday at 7
p.m. for Throwback Night. The Green Bay players will be wearing retro jerseys
and all adult tickets will be sold for just $10.
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 63, VALPARAISO 61
GREEN BAY (11-10, 5-4 HL)
BROWN,
Alec 4-6 7-7 15; WILLIAMS, Jarvis 4-6 2-4 10; FLETCHER, Rahmon 4-13 0-0 10;
EVANS, Seth 1-5 5-5 8; TURNER, Daniel 3-3 1-2 7; HEUER, Clayton 3-5 0-0 6;
BAKER, Steve 2-5 0-0 5; LESAGE, Greg 0-0 2-2 2; CERRONI, Kam 0-0 0-0 0; PERINE,
Bryquis 0-3 0-1 0. Totals 21-46 17-21 63.
VALPARAISO (15-6, 7-2 HL)
JOHNSON,
Cory 5-15 5-6 17; BROEKHOFF, Ryan 5-8 0-0 15; KENNEY, Matt 5-11 3-6 13; LITTLE,
Howard 4-9 1-1 9; ROGERS, Michael 1-4 1-2 3; BUGGS, Erik 1-3 0-0 2; VAN WIJK,
Kevin 0-2 2-2 2; HARRIS, Jay 0-2 0-0 0; WITT, Cameron 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-55
12-17 61.
Green Bay..................... 18
45 - 63
Valparaiso..................... 25
36 - 61
