DAYTON, Ohio (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - The first meeting between two of the youngest head
coaches in the Horizon League was a back-and-forth thriller and appeared to be
heading to five extra minutes, but Wright State's Vaughn Duggins drilled a
pull-up three-pointer at the buzzer and down visiting Green Bay (6-9, 1-3 HL) 67-64
in Horizon League action Saturday afternoon at the Nutter Center.
Brian Wardle's Green Bay team nearly forced overtime when junior Steve Baker (St. Paul, Minn.) drained a
three with 4.4 seconds on the clock, but Billy Donlon called timeout and got
the ball into the hands of his best player, who dribbled down the court and
ended Green Bay's hopes for a conference road win with the final three of his
career-high 26 points.
"Steve Baker made plays all night. He only had 11 points and he probably missed some
shots that he normally makes, but he makes plays," said Wardle. "He is our
aggressive, tough guy, and he was very aggressive off the dribble attacking."
Senior
Rahmon Fletcher (Kansas City, Mo.),
limited to just 21 minutes because of foul trouble, gave Green Bay a 59-56 lead
with 2:34, but he was also called for his fifth foul on the play and sat the
closing minutes. Fletcher had nine points on just six shot attempts.
Moments
later, junior Jarvis Williams (Milwaukee, Wis.) joined him
on the bench after a whistle for a loose ball foul. Johann Mpondo converted the
two free throws to give Wright State the lead with 1:51 to play. Williams
scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds in 33 minutes, hitting five of six
shots from the field and four of five from the charity stripe.
"Anytime
you are without one of the best players in the league it is tough, and the way
Jarvis Williams was defending it was tough to be without him as well," Wardle
said. "The early fouls cost us at the end of the game."
The
Raiders held the lead until Baker's three tied the game briefly with under five
seconds to play. Baker hit 5-of-10 shots from the field to finish with 11
points and grabbed a career-high nine rebounds to help Green Bay hold a
commanding 37-26 edge on the glass. Senior Greg LeSage (Radcliff, Ky.) tied a career high with seven rebounds.
There
were seven ties and four lead changes in the opening half in which neither team
led by more than four points. The score was tied at 21 at the under eight
timeout before four-straight points from Baker put the Phoenix up 25-21. However,
Wright State scored the next seven points to move ahead by three and took a
one-point edge into halftime.
Green
Bay dominated the boards in the first half, getting six rebounds from Williams
and five from LeSage to hold a 22-10 advantage. The Phoenix forced 10 turnovers
and turned them into 15 points, but also turned the ball over 12 times.
Senior
Bryquis Perine (Milwaukee, Wis.) scored 12 of his 14 points in the second
half for the Phoenix. He hit 5-of-9 shots from the field and added three
rebounds, three assists and three steals in 36 minutes.
The
Phoenix lost despite hitting 25-of-47 shots from the field for 53.2 percent and
holding Wright State to just 34.6 percent (18-52). The Raiders made up for the
poor shooting by knocking down 25 of their 32 free throws.
Freshman
Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.) had two of Green Bay's six blocks in the game
to give him 31 on the season and set a freshman record for blocked shots in a
season. LeSage and Williams also both blocked two shots apiece.
The
Phoenix will step away from conference play on Monday, hosting Houston Baptist
at 7 p.m. at the Resch Center.
WRIGHT STATE 67, GREEN BAY 64
GREEN BAY (6-9, 1-3 HL)
PERINE,
Bryquis 5-9 4-8 14; WILLIAMS, Jarvis 5-6 4-5 14; BAKER, Steve 5-10 0-0 11;
FLETCHER, Rahmon 4-6 0-0 9; BROWN, Alec 3-5 2-5 8; TURNER, Daniel 2-2 0-0 4;
EVANS, Seth 1-3 0-0 2; LESAGE, Greg 0-2 2-2 2; CERRONI, Kam 0-4 0-0 0. Totals
25-47 12-20 64.
WRIGHT STATE (9-6, 2-1 HL)
DUGGINS,
Vaughn 8-20 7-8 26; TABLER, Troy 5-10 7-9 19; EVANS, N'Gai 3-10 7-8 13; HALL,
Vance 1-1 1-1 4; MPONDO, Johann 1-5 2-2 4; BATTLE, Armond 0-1 1-2 1; VEST, Matt
0-1 0-0 0; PACHER, AJ 0-1 0-2 0; CLARK, Kegan 0-1 0-0 0; DARLING, Cole 0-0 0-0
0; LAND, Cooper 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 25-32 67.
Green Bay..................... 29
35 - 64
Wright State.................. 30
37 - 67
