CHICAGO, Ill. – The Green Bay men's basketball team had four players score in double figures, but it wasn't enough to overcome the UIC Flames, dropping the contest 81-77 Thursday night.
The Phoenix (4-24, 3-16 HL) were paced by
Kamari McGee's 20 points, while
Nate Jenkins chipped in with 14. Manny Ansong also had 12, while
Cade Meyer added 11 for GB.
UIC was led by Zion Griffin's 21 points on 6-of-9 shooting in 29 minutes.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Flames and Phoenix each shared close leads to start the first half, before Green Bay started to separate itself
Ryan Claflin's triple made it a 16-10 game with 11:45 left, in favor of GB. UIC would come back with an answer of their own coming out of the media timeout, eventually retaking the lead at 19-18 after Jalen Warren knocked down a trey with 8:35 left before intermission. Each team would share buckets nearing the break, but it was the Flames who would go into the locker room on an 8-0 run, going up 38-33.
Green Bay came out of the gates hot to open the second half, answering UIC's run at the end of the first half with an 11-3 run that gave the Phoenix a 44-40 advantage with 16:30 left in regulation. GB would go scoreless for a few minutes, but a driving
Cade Meyer layup kept UIC within check and gave the lead back to the Phoenix at 48-46 with 12:45 to go. The Flames wouldn't cool off, however, going on a blazing 16-4 run that was capped by a Griffin layup to put them up 63-52 with 7:29 left. Green Bay responded once again thanks to a few Japannah Kellogg free throws and another Claflin three to make it 64-58, still in UIC's favor. Down the stretch, GB's deficit was as large as nine (73-64 with 1:57 to go). However, GB went on an 8-2 run that made it 76-72 with 41 seconds to play. UIC would go back up by six after a Griffin free throw, but
Kamari McGee's three with four seconds left made it 80-77. Jalen Warren was able to close it out at the free-throw line, leading to UIC's 81-77 victory.
GAME NOTES
» Green Bay dominated the paint by scoring 38 points, compared to UIC's 20.
» UIC narrowly had the rebounding advantage, 33-30.
» The Phoenix won the turnover battle, 17-12.
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Nate Jenkins and Manny Ansong each registered a team-high 35 minutes.
» McGee came up just short of a double-double, totaling a team-high nine rebounds to go with his team-leading 20 points.
» GB's loss marked the seventh defeat of five or fewer points for the Phoenix this season.
» Ansong's 12 points marked the 51
st time in his career that he's scored in double figures.
» Ansong was also on double-double watch, pulling down seven rebounds of his own.
» Green Bay totaled 13 steals, the highest in a game this season, and just the second time they've recorded double-digit steals.
» The Phoenix shot 43.8-percent from deep (7-of-16 shooting), the second-highest three-point field goal percentage on the season.
ON THE HORIZON
Green Bay will visit IUPUI to conclude their regular season with a 3:45 p.m. tipoff on Saturday before turning their attention to the Horizon League Tournament First Round, which begins Tuesday, March 1. Green Bay is locked into the No. 11 seed in the HL, and will travel to the No. 6 seed, which is TBD.
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