DETROIT, Mich. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) --- Thanks in large part to a career-high 36 points from sophomore Kameron Hankerson, No. 7-seed Green Bay advanced past the First Round of the 2018 Little Caesars Horizon League Championship on Saturday evening with a 93-81 win over No. 10-seed Detroit Mercy at Little Caesars Arena. GB will now play No. 2-seed Wright State in the Quarterfinals tomorrow (Mar. 3) at 4:30 p.m. CT.

Hankerson had the best game of his collegiate career, playing right down the road from his hometown of Novi, Mich. The sophomore shot 12-for-17 overall and 7-for-9 from the 3-point range in 35 minutes of action.
It's the sixth-straight game he has reached double figures and the second time this season he has scored 20 points or more. Hankerson bested his previous high of 24 points, and played the entire second half, while also enjoying a pair of dunks.

The 36 points scored by Hankerson ties the Green Bay record for most points in a postseason game, tying both Troy Cotton (Mar. 17, 2010) and Tony Bennett (Mar. 19, 1992), but neither of those games came in the Horizon League Tournament.

Detroit Mercy didn't take its first lead of the game until a layup from forward Cole Long made it 58-56 with 12 minutes, 20 seconds remaining. The Titans made the comeback by scoring 25 of the first 34 points of the second half after trailing by 14 at halftime.

"I felt like it wasn't a personal game for me," Hankerson said. "My goal is to win a championship, so realistically whatever we have got to do to get to a championship, that's I'm going to do.
"Tonight, it was scoring 36. Tomorrow, it might be only scoring 10 and having fix or six rebounds. That's just how I am."

All five starters for Green Bay finished in double figures, and scored all 93 points in the game.

Khalil Small finished one point shy of his 13^th 20-point scoring game this season, but did notch his fourth career double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds. Small also dished out five assists and played all 40 minutes of his team's win.

Also continuing his impressive stretch of play was Sandy Cohen III, who also recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Cohen doled out six assists and went 6-for-11 from the field, fresh off his Horizon League Player of the Week honor.

Freshman PJ Pipes added 12 points and senior David Jesperson finished with 11 points, having now scored in double figures in three-straight games.

Detroit Mercy didn't take its first lead of the game until a layup from forward Cole Long made it 58-56 with 12 minutes, 20 seconds remaining. The Titans made the comeback by scoring 25 of the first 34 points of the second half after trailing by 14 at halftime.

GB was able to knock down 13 3-pointers, continuing its hot shooting from beyond the arc, making 11 or more 3s in six-straight games. The team also shot over 50 percent for its third-straight game, going 29-for-56 from the field and 13-for-23 from 3-point land.

Head coach Linc Darner is now 5-1 in the Horizon League Tournament, and is also 1-0 against Wright State. The Phoenix beat the Raiders to capture the 2016 tournament title, but fell in both meetings this year. In the most recent meeting, GB led late in the game before falling 68-64 on Feb. 8 in Dayton.

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