GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Making its first home appearance in exactly three weeks, the Green Bay men's basketball team found themselves in a game of punch-counterpunch against in-state rival Milwaukee on Monday night, before the Phoenix received a go-ahead, punctuation dunk from junior Jamar Hurdle with 2:03 remaining that helped preserve a thrilling 70-68 win over the Panthers at the Resch Center.
For the moment, the victory gives Green Bay (16-11, 8-6 HL) sole possession of fourth place in the Horizon League standings, with Milwaukee (16-12, 7-7 HL) falling to fifth. Head coach Linc Darner's team improved to 8-2 at home with four more games left there to conclude the regular season.
Phoenix junior forward Charles Cooper scored a game-high 18 points, however, he missed the front-end of a one-and-one attempt that would have given Green Bay a three or potentially four-point cushion in the waning seconds of regulation. Instead, Panthers guard Brock Stull secured the rebound and advanced the ball ahead to Austin Arians, whose 3-point attempt drew iron as the final buzzer sounded with Jordan Fouse closing out.
With both teams exchanging runs all night long, it was the Phoenix who held Milwaukee just 2-of-its-last-12 from the field before taking its final lead on Hurdle's aforementioned basket. After sophomore Khalil Small was forced out due to injury, the Milwaukee native Hurdle played arguably his best game in a Green Bay uniform, finishing with 11 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including seven rebounds and a career-high four blocks in 16 minutes.
Despite ending just 4-of-14 from the floor, Fouse (8 points/4 rebounds) recorded four steals for the Phoenix, tying him with Youngstown State's Kendrick Perry (2010-14) for the most career steals in Horizon League history. Additionally, the Racine native is now just two points away from becoming the 28th player in Green Bay program annals to score 1,000 points.
The Phoenix, who entered play third in the nation in total steals, used a 12-1 advantage in that category to turn in a 18-2 edge on fast-break points, while outscoring the Panthers 21-7 in points off turnovers.
Green Bay's offense was the epitome of streaky all evening, as it began the game 4-of-6, then went 1-of-13, before connecting on 11 of its final 13 shots over the final 8 minutes and 39 seconds of the opening half to take a 10-point lead into the break, 41-31.
The Phoenix wound up making 10 consecutive shots from the field spanning 7 minutes and 32 seconds between the first and second halves, taking its largest lead, 45-31, on a Carrington Love dunk. The streak finally ended on a missed triple from Small with 17:48 to play.
Milwaukee refused to go away down the stretch; however, responding on a 19-2 run of its own to retake its first lead since the game was 19-18, 50-47, on a 3-pointer from Cody Wichmann with 12:29 remaining.
The game featured a total of 10 lead changes and 10 ties before all was said and done.
Senior forward Matt Tiby scored a team-high 15 points for Milwaukee, while guard Jordan Johnson recorded six assists in the contest to surpass Kaylan Williams for the most in a single-season in school history.
Green Bay will return to the Resch Center on Saturday afternoon against Youngstown State (9-17, 4-9 HL) as part of the Festival Foods Family game, which features a headband giveaway presented by Cellcom. Tip is scheduled for 1 p.m.
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