The shorthanded Phoenix were hunting for an upset on Saturday night, as the team hosted Oakland in the regular season finale. Green Bay was looking to win back to back games for the first time all season, and build momentum for the Horizon League tournament. While Green Bay ultimately led a lot of the game, it was Oakland who prevailed, claiming the win in an overtime thriller 87-84.
Golden Grizzlies big man Allen Mukeba started scoring for the evening on the opening possession of the contest. With Anthony Roy still out with the ankle injury that has kept him out since December, Green Bay’s lone playing senior, Ryan Wade, drained a three-pointer to put the Phoenix out in front after its first possession. Oakland was able to respond, sparking a 6-0 to jump in front. Green Bay’s two leading scorers since the Roy injury, Marcus Hall and Jeremiah Johnson, rallied with a run of their own. Hall started things by draining a triple, followed by Johnson getting layups to go on either side of the first media break.
CJ O’Hara kept the run going to cap a 10-0 run altogether, putting Green Bay in front 13-8. After a made free throw by Oakland, Johnson added to his scoring total by splitting a pair of free throws, then hitting a layup on Green Bay’s next possession. Though Oakland would battle back throughout the half, Green Bay had an answer for each Golden Grizzly rally. Foster Wonders and Mac Wrecke hit back to back threes to extend the Phoenix lead out to double digits. Jayson Woodrich and DQ Cole combined to cut Green Bay’s lead in half, only for Hall to answer back with a trey.
Tuburu Naivalurua and Isaiah Jones shrunk the lead once again, cutting the Phoenix advantage to 29-27, before Roee Oselka got a jumper to go in. As the half drew to a close, Johnson tacked on a pair of free throws to increase the lead. Nassim Mashhour answered with a bucket, before Wonders hit another deep ball to put the Phoenix up 36-29. Green Bay seemed like it may be able to hold that score going into the locker room until Woodrich hit a three with 0:04 left in the half. The Phoenix were unable to get a shot off in the final seconds, and went into the break with the 36-32 lead.
Oakland scored first in the second half, as Jones took one into the paint to cut the Green Bay lead back to just 2. When the Phoenix needed a bucket, Wade once again answered the call, getting a jumper to go. The teams exchange buckets before Woodrich got another three-ball to find the bottom of the net, cutting Green Bay’s lead to just 1 point. Oselka, Hall, Wonders, and O’Hara scored on consecutive Phoenix possessions to put Green Bay up by 10. Cole hit a triple to stop the scoring run, but Hall hit a deep ball on the next possession to answer it back. A split trip to the charity for Oakland put the Phoenix lead back to single figures briefly, before Hall hit another deep ball to give Green Bay its biggest lead of the game to that spot in the game at 12 points.
The Phoenix led by as much as 14 in the game when Hall hit another trey a bit later, followed by a Wade layup to put Green Bay up 62-48 with 9:27 left in regulation. Mukeba sparked a rally single-handedly, scoring 8 points straight for Oakland, cutting the lead to single digits. Tweedy hit a jumper to spell the Golden Grizzlies comeback and put Green Bay up by 10 once again, with just 5:05 left in regulation. Cole and Johnson exchanged hoops, followed by Mashhour coming up with a perfect trip to the free throw line and a Woodrich three-pointer.
A Tweedy foul following a Hall miss prompted the final media timeout of regulation, as Green Bay held a 68-63 lead with 2:57 left. Oakland was in the bonus, and Woodrich split his trip at the line after the break. Green Bay extended its as Hall hit a pair of free throws with 1:54 left. A Mukeba free throw and a Cole three-pointer cut the Phoenix lead down to 70-68 with just one minute left to play. Oakland called a timeout and decided to play defense instead of fouling the leading free throw shooting team in the conference. The move paid off, as Tweedy missed a jumper with 0:33 left.
With a chance to tie or take the lead, Oakland’s Cole turned the ball back to the Phoenix with 0:16 left in regulation and were forced to foul. O’Hara split the trip to the line, giving the Golden Grizzlies a shot to tie in the final moments. O’Hara fouled Cole with 6.8 seconds left, just before he launched a three, where he’d shoot the double bonus. Cole hit the first, but missed the second, where Mukeba tipped the ball back in with 0:05 left to tie the game. Jeremiah Johnson was able to fire off a deep three-pointer to try to win the game, missing it off the side of the rim, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra period, Cole gave Oakland its first lead since the 16:31 mark in the 1st half, as he hit a jumper to start the scoring. Johnson tied the game up for Green Bay on the ensuing possession. The teams exchanged scoring, with Oakland maintaining the lead at 2 points for much of the overtime period. Jones and Mukeba scored on back to back possessions for Oakland, to give the Golden Grizzlies an 81-77 lead with 1:18 left. Wonders hit another three to cut the lead down to 1 in the final minute. The teams exchanged several free throws with Woodrich hitting the final pair at 0:06 left in the first OT. Hall had a look from just inside halfcourt to try to extend the evening to a 2nd overtime, but came up just short, giving Oakland the win.
Hall led all scorers with a 25 point effort in the game. Jeremiah Johnson followed up his 20 point effort from Thursday nights win with 18 points in this one, as well as getting 12 points from Wonders. For Oakland, it was Mukeba who led the way, scoring 23 points, aided by 21 from Cole and 14 from each Woodrich and Naivalurua.
These two teams are set for a rematch in just a couple days, as the 6-11 seed matchup in the opening round of the Horizon League tournament. That game will tip off from the O’Rena with 6pm CT start.
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