The most exciting team in town strikes again. After building a seven point or more lead seven different times in the game it came down to the wire. The UW-Green Bay Phoenix won a close one, beating the Loyola Ramblers, 71-69.
The Phoenix (9-9, 3-3) shot 47.9-percent from the floor and tallied 34 total rebounds. Seven players ended up with double digit minutes. Rahmon Fletcher led the way with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists.
It was the fourth time he’s scored more than 20 points this season.
“They were more aggressive than we expected,” Fletcher said. “Usually Loyola is a back-end team, but I think they probably saw something on film and they got into us and it caught us off guard..”
In the first half, the Ramblers (10-8, 1-6) forced 10 turnovers and tallied seven blocks.
“They had a good game coming in,” Phoenix Head Coach Brian Wardle sai. “It was hard for us to turn the corner and get in the paint.”
Wardle and his staff made the necessary adjustments at halftime. After a Fletcher jumper three minutes into the second half, the Phoenix led by seven. At the 11:26 mark they pushed the lead to 11 on a Jarvis Williams jumper from Bryquis Perine. The two finished with eight and 16, respectively.
Williams had five rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block on the night as well.
Loyola got to within two with 4:39 to go in the game, but would never get traction after that. On the next offensive possession Phoenix big man Greg Lesage tipped in a missed shot from Williams and the team would never look back.
“This was a good team win,” Wardle said. “Anytime you can keep winning games in special situations… hopefully it’s going to just keep helping us.”
The Phoenix play UIC next. Game time moved to 11am Saturday morning at the Resch Center.
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