By: Andrew Gavin (@GBGavin)
GreenBayPhoenix.com
GREEN BAY, Wis. (GreenBayPhoenix.com) - Green Bay (6-8, 2-2 HL) made shot after shot after shot on Saturday afternoon in what was arguably its best offensive effort of the season, but unfortunately for the Phoenix, Valparaiso (9-6, 2-1 HL) pretty much did as well. The host Crusaders built an 18-point lead at the Athletics and Recreation Center and held off a furious Phoenix rally to post a 90-87 victory.
Putting five players in double figures, Green Bay had season high offensive numbers in three-pointers (12), field goal percentage (59.4, 29-49), three-point percentage (50.0, 12-24) and assists (20). The Phoenix was coming off a 53-49 loss at Butler in which the team shot just 28 percent from the field and made 3-of-17 three-pointers.
Valpo knocked down 30-of-56 shots from the field, 10-of-21 from long range and 20-of-25 from the free-throw line. The Crusaders were coming off a 57-55 loss to Milwaukee in which they made just 1-of-17 threes.
"It was a tale of two games. Thursday night we came out and really guarded and did a great job defensively, and tonight we did not come out ready to defend," said head coach Brian Wardle. "I thought we were but we obviously were not, and I take full blame for that."
Sophomore Alec Brown, now averaging 19.3 points and 10 rebounds in three career games against Valpo, registered his fourth double-double of the season with 21 points and 11 rebounds. He made 8-of-15 shots from the field and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. Two of Brown's four 20-point games and two of his seven career double-doubles have come against Valpo.
Getting two early threes from sophomore Kam Cerroni (Sussex, Wis.), Green Bay trailed 15-14 with 14:04 to play in the first half, but the Crusaders scored the next 10 points to build its lead to double figures and Brown went to the bench with his second foul.
Brown returned when the lead reached 36-20 and finished the first half with 11 points, but a Matt Kenney three-pointer with 1:23 left in the period pushed the lead to 49-31 before the Phoenix scored the final five points heading to halftime.
Kenney, who came into the game with just three made three-pointers, hit that many in the opening half and added 12 more second-half points to tie Brown for game-high honors with 21 points. He made 8-of-13 shots from the field and 4-f-6 from long range.
The Phoenix made 14-of-25 shots in the first half but was doomed by 12 turnovers, which the Crusaders turned into 19 points.
"In the second half, you saw a young team with a lot of fight in them," Wardle said. "We constantly got up when we got knocked down. We never gave up, we never lost hope and we kept playing. You can't win shootouts on the road. You have to defend and you have to rebound, and this is the first time all year I can say that we did not do that throughout. Which team do we want to be? I think we can be a great defensive team and shot the type of offense we had in the second half."
A four-point play early in the second half by Cerroni closed the gap to nine, but Valparaiso scored the next six points to lead by 15. At the 12:08 mark, a three by freshman Aaron Armstead (Chicago, Ill.) again cut the lead to nine (68-59, but threes by Kenney and Jay Harris pushed it to 15 again.
Armstead had the best game of his young career, scoring 19 points to best his previous career high by 12 points. The Chicago native hit 5-of-6 three-pointers and all four of his free throws while also adding three steals.
"He did the little things, too," Wardle said of Armstead. "He was blocking out, he was getting steals and he played great. He played great. That is why we recruited him. He can make shots, and he was a shot maker out there today. He played with confidence, and it was great to see that."
Valpo's lead was cut to single digits for good with 5:26 to play on a three by senior Steve Baker (St. Paul, Minn.). Another Baker three made it 81-78 with 2:06 remaining, but Kenney responded with a layup. Brown cut it to three again with a reverse layup with 1:07 on the clock, but Harris responded by draining a high-arcing three over Brown with one second on the shot clock.
Armstead made another three with four seconds left to make the score 90-87, and after an Erki Buggs missed free throw, Green Bay had the ball with a one second left, but needed to go nearly the length of the floor and a long pass to Brown was broken up.
Freshman Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) had one of the best games of his young career, scoring 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting and adding a career-high seven assists. Cerroni and fellow sophomore Daniel Turner (McCordsville, Ind.) each had 11 points for Green Bay.
The 12 three-pointers marked the most scored by a Green Bay team under Brian Wardle, the first time Green Bay had made double-digit threes since hitting 10 on Feb. 27, 2010 against Loyola and the most since hitting 12 against Samford on Nov. 14, 2009.
Green Bay returns to action and completes a three-game road trip next Saturday, Jan. 7 at Milwaukee at 7 p.m. The contest will be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sports32.
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