GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) – Green Bay returned to its winning ways on Monday night, using a strong second half to knock off Cleveland State 83-73 at the Resch Center and snap a two-game losing streak in Horizon League play. The Phoenix (12-8, 6-2 HL) shot 50 percent (27-for-54) from the field and 59.3 percent alone in the second half, earning the season sweep over the Vikings (6-15, 2-7 HL).
Green Bay, coming off a disappointing home loss on Friday night to Youngstown State, started off slow by missing 11 of its first 14 shots in the game. The Phoenix then immediately responded, converting on eight of its next nine shots before eventually taking a two-point lead into the half at 36-34.
Charles Cooper came up big in the second half, scoring 14 of his 16 points in the final 20 minutes. Cooper made a couple of huge baskets, converting a pair of and-ones and converting strong around the rim. It marked the seventh time in eight Horizon League games that Cooper has scored in double figures.
Cooper, Warren Jones (15 points) and Kerem Kanter (15 points) combined to score 46 of the team's 83 points, while scoring 33 of the team's 47 points in the second half alone. Jones went 3-for-3 from 3-point territory and Kanter was 7-for-11 from the charity stripe with seven rebounds.
Jones has now made 15 of his last 21 attempts from 3, a blistering 71.4 percent.
The game became controlled by Green Bay went it enjoyed an 11-0 run and held Cleveland State scoreless for 3:29. The run started at 9:36 in the second half and the Phoenix would grab a 12-point advantage and lead by double digits the rest of the way.
Green Bay scored 52 points off the bench, its second-highest total in a game this season and the most in any Horizon League game. With the help of Cooper and Jones, David Jesperson (9 points) and Jamar Hurdle (6 points) also fueled the bench. Freshman Kameron Hankerson played eight strong minutes, scoring four points and grabbing four rebounds.
The Phoenix avoided losing its third-straight league game for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The team will now play six of its final 10 games on the road and sits alone in second place at 6-2 in the Horizon League.
Rob Edwards led Cleveland State with 28 points and the Vikings shot just 36.5 percent (23-for-63) from the field, the lowest percentage by any Division I team against Green Bay this season.
Green Bay will now make the Detroit road swing this coming weekend, visiting Oakland on Friday night for a 8:05 p.m. CT tip (Jan. 27) on ESPNU and Detroit Mercy on Sunday (Jan. 29) at 1 p.m. CT.
View full box score and play by play here.
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