GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Brian Wardle's
young team is beginning to come together, and it was a complete team effort
that helped Green Bay (8-9, 2-3 HL) build an 18-point lead and hold off
visiting Milwaukee (8-9, 3-3 HL) for a 69-64 Horizon League win Saturday night
in front of 4,649 people at the Resch Center.
"Overall,
it was a great team win tonight," said Wardle. "I thought we beat a very good
team tonight. They are a scary team the way they shoot the three. I thought a
bunch of players stepped up. We really set the tone defensively toward the end
of the first half, and it kind of carried over into the second half. We had a
sense of urgency defensively, and obviously it is a good win for us."
Wardle's
senior guards stepped up, with senior Bryquis Perine (Milwaukee, Wis.) scoring 11 of his game-high 17 points in the first
half, and classmate Rahmon Fletcher
(Kansas City, Mo.) tallied 10 of his 13 points in the second half. Fletcher had
seven points during a 20-3 run midway through the second half which stretched a
three-point halftime edge to 18 (58-40) with 7:21 to play.
Junior
Steve Baker (St. Paul, Minn.) added
10 points and seven rebounds in 31 minutes off the Green Bay bench, hitting
4-of-8 shots from the field as the Phoenix shot 41.8 percent from the field and
six of its 15 three-pointers.
It
was the defense and rebounding which really allowed the Phoenix to defeat a
Panthers' team coming off a 76-52 victory over Butler on Monday night. Milwaukee
had knocked down 27 threes in its last two games, but the hot-shooting team was
held to just 35.1 percent (20-57) from the field and 34.6 percent from long
range (9-of-26). During the decisive 20-3 run, Milwaukee went just 1-for-10
from the field and committed three turnovers.
"That
was the key for the game, locking your man up [defensively]," said Perine. "It
was a battle of matchups, and you had to outplay the person you were guarding."
While
Perine, Fletcher and Baker each reached double figures, it was Green Bay's
quartet of frontline players that may have been the difference in the contest. Alec Brown (9 points, 8 rebounds, 3
blocks), Daniel Turner (9 points,
three rebounds), Jarvis Williams (6
points, 7 rebounds) and Greg LeSage
(5 points, 8 rebounds) combined for 29 points, 26 rebounds and five blocks.
Defensively,
Brown and LeSage, who played 13 first-half minutes due to Brown's foul trouble,
held Milwaukee big man Anthony Hill to just 2-for-14 shooting from the field.
For
Fletcher and Perine, it was more of the same in the second half. The duo
entered Saturday having averaged nearly 20 points in the second halves of the
team's wins, and the pair combined for 16 after halftime in this win. Fletcher
recovered from a 1-for-5 effort in the first half and added three rebounds,
three assists and three steals to his 13 points. Perine reached double figures
for the second-straight conference game, and he also added three rebounds and
three assists.
"We
have no choice," Perine said of stepping up in the second half. "The team looks
for us to make plays, and that is what we have to do."
Green
Bay finished with 14 assists and just eight turnovers, and went 17-for-23 from the
free-throw line.
Green
Bay continues its four-game homestand with a pair of conference games this
week, hosting Loyola Thursday at 7 p.m. and UIC on Saturday.
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
69, MILWAUKEE 64
MILWAUKEE
(8-9, 3-3 HL)
WILLIAMS, Kaylon 6-12 1-2 14; BOYLE, Tone 5-14 0-0 13;
HILL, Anthony 2-14 8-10 12; MEIER, Tony 3-6 2-2 10; KELM, Kyle 2-3 0-0 6;
McCALLUM, Ja'Rob 2-6 0-0 5; ALLEN, Ryan 0-2 4-4 4; HAGGERTY, Ryan 0-0 0-2 0;
AJAMI, Jerard 0-0 0-0 0; SOUTER, Patrick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 15-20 64.
GREEN BAY
(8-9, 2-3 HL)
PERINE, Bryquis 4-12 6-8 17; FLETCHER, Rahmon 5-15 1-3
13; BAKER, Steve 4-8 1-2 10; BROWN, Alec 2-3 5-6 9; TURNER, Daniel 3-6 3-3 9;
WILLIAMS, Jarvis 3-5 0-0 6; LESAGE, Greg 2-5 1-1 5; EVANS, Seth 0-1 0-0 0;
CERRONI, Kam 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 17-23 69.
Milwaukee..................... 32
32 - 64
Green
Bay..................... 35 34
- 69
