CLEVELAND, Ohio (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Freshmen Daniel Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) and Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.) combined for 26 points and 19 rebounds to lead a
furious rally by visiting Green Bay (14-17, 8-10 HL) Saturday afternoon, but
senior Norris Cole and Cleveland State (24-7, 13-5 HL) held off the Phoenix in
a 64-57 win at the Wolstein Center.
Green
Bay was looking to spoil a team's bid at a share of the Horizon League
Championship for the second time in six days, but the Phoenix dug themselves a
hole early due to a tough start offensively. The visitors started 1-of-16 from
the field and trailed 19-4 with 12:32 remaining.
Aided
by an 8-for-8 effort at the line, Green Bay trailed just 28-17 at the break
despite shooting just 19 percent (4-21). The Phoenix held CSU to 39.3 percent
shooting and only two free throws.
With
four points from senior Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.) and a
three-pointer by sophomore Seth Evans
(Seneca, Ill.), the Phoenix came out of the break on a 7-0 run to cut the
deficit to four (28-24) with 17:53 to play.
Evans
finished the game with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and knocked
down a pair of three-pointers in a season-high 32 minutes of action.
Cleveland
State responded to again increase its lead to double figures, and the Vikings
led 48-33 with 10:32 to play. Getting six points from Brown and five from
Turner, Green Bay went on an 18-5 run over the next six minutes. Two free
throws from Brown made it 53-51 with 4:05 to play, and Turner had a chance to
tie it on the team's next possession but missed a pair from the line.
Brown
had 13 points and seven rebounds while hitting all nine of his free throws, and
Turner had 13 points and 12 rebounds for his second career double-double.
Cole,
the likely Horizon League Player of the Year, scored the next eight points for
the Vikings to help stave off the Phoenix rally. The senior guard finished the
game with 22 points, 10 rebounds and five assists to lead the Vikings.
Green
Bay hit 13-of-26 shots from the field in the second half to increase its overall
shooting percentage to 36.2 percent. The Phoenix finished the game 20-of-24
from the free-throw line.
Fletcher
gave the Phoenix a fourth player in double figures with 10 points and in the
process passed Mike Schactner for fifth place on the program's all-time scoring
list.
With
the regular season in the books, Green Bay will begin the Horizon League
Tournament on Tuesday as the seventh seed and will play an opening round game
at sixth-seeded Wright State at 6 p.m.
CLEVELAND STATE 64, GREEN BAY 57
GREEN BAY (14-17, 8-10 HL)
BROWN,
Alec 2-9 9-9 13; TURNER, Daniel 5-8 2-4 13; EVANS, Seth 4-5 2-3 12; FLETCHER,
Rahmon 4-10 2-2 10; PERINE, Bryquis 0-6 4-4 4; BAKER, Steve 1-3 0-0 2; LESAGE,
Greg 1-4 0-0 2; WILLIAMS, Jarvis 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 17-47 20-24 57.
CLEVELAND STATE (24-7, 13-5 HL)
COLE,
Norris 7-15 7-8 22; POGUE, Aaron 5-5 2-3 12; HARMON, Trevon 3-9 4-4 11;
KAMCZYC, Tim 3-5 0-0 8; MONTGOMERY, Jeremy 3-9 0-0 7; LATAS, Joe 1-2 2-2 4;
NDAYE, Luda 0-1 0-0 0; MCCOY, Josh 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 22-49 15-17 64.
Green Bay...................... 17
40 - 57
Cleveland State............... 28
36 - 64
