Basketball can be an odd game, and as we often say here, “Horizon’s Gonna Horizon” (buy a shirt here). Friday night was not friendly for the Green Bay Phoenix, losing to Purdue Fort Wayne 85-59.
Green Bay was without Horizon League Player of the Year candidate, Noah Reynolds, due to a lower body injury suffered Wednesday during practice. Purdue Fort Wayne took advantage of the reeling Phoenix, opening up on a 9-0 run and not looking back. Anthony Roberts had 19 first half points, as the lead stretched to as much as 24 in the opening half. The Mastodons seemingly could not miss, shooting 18-31 (58.1%), 6-12 (50%) from 3pt land, and a whopping 22 paint points. Adding insult to injury, Green Bay went to the locker room trailing 47-25 at the half and came out to play trailing 47-23 due to a goaltending call being reviewed and overturned.
The second half was not much better for Green Bay, as the Mastodons forced two turnovers to start the half, scoring five points before Green Bay could even attempt a shot in the second half. The Phoenix did what they could to cut into the lead, trimming it down to 23 points but it very quickly ballooned back out to 28, where it would hover around for the remainder of the contest. Green Bay was able to keep even with the Mastodons in the second half, “losing” the half, 38-36.
Will Eames was one of the few bright points for the Phoenix in the contest, as he hit a Green Bay/D1 career high of 19 points. Clarence Cummings III and Elijah Jones also hit double digit scoring, finishing the game with 13 and 12 points respectively. Green Bay struggled shooting everywhere, going 7-27 from distance, and a meager 10-21 from the charity stripe. Conversely, 44 paint points and a career high tying 31 point effort from Anthony Roberts led the way for the Mastodons.
Green Bay will honor grad transfer Will Eames and Richard Byhre on Senior Night, as the Phoenix host Youngstown State, who are looking to avenge their loss to Green Bay in the 84-83 thriller just a few weeks ago. Tipoff set for 2pm CT.
