A second half scoring drought doomed the Green Bay Phoenix on Wednesday night, as Green Bay falls to IU Indianapolis 84-75 in the Horizon League opener.
Green Bay got off to a slow start, falling into a 10-2 in the opening minutes of the game before Coach Gottlieb used a timeout. The Phoenix rallied though, going on a 12-0 run of their own to take a 14-10 lead prior to the first media timeout. Both teams battled, trading the lead back and forth throughout the remainder of the half until Green Bay closed the period on an 8-1 run to take a 42-36 lead into the break.
The Jaguars didn’t go away quietly, clawing back to cut the deficit to 42-40 before Marcus Hall got the Phoenix back on the board in the second half. DeSean Good and Anthony Roy traded 4 straight made 3s as the teams traded the lead heading into the first media timeout of the period. Coming out of the break, Anthony Roy made a jumper and Foster Wonders hit 2 free throws to give Green Bay a 54-49 lead. Things went south for the Phoenix from there, as Ron Rutland hit a 3 that sparked a 23-0 run nearly eight and a half minutes of game action as the Jaguars grabbed a 72-62 lead. Green Bay cut the lead down to as close as 5, but were unable to take advantage of IU Indy’s missed free throws down the stretch.
In the loss, Green Bay shot 24-51, including 11-28 from behind the arc, compared to 30-66 for the Jaguars. One of the biggest disparities in the game came in rebounds, as the Jaguars out-rebounded the Phoenix 39-31, with 14 of those coming on the offensive glass. That combined with IU Indy scoring 18 points off 11 Phoenix turnovers was enough to give the win to home team.
Anthony Roy continues to be a bright spot for Green Bay, as he scored 34 points on 12-20 shooting, and 6-12 from deep. Foster Wonders and Marcus Hall also reached double figures, with 14 and 11 points respectively.
The Phoenix return home for two straight, starting with Saturday’s game against Cleveland State. Tipoff is set for 2 pm CT at the Resch Center.
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If Anthony Roy isn’t in consideration for national pollsters third team, something is wrong. He’s keeping the Phoenix in these contests.