It may not have been the prettiest game, but after starting the 2025-26 season on the road for its opening pair of games, the Green Bay Phoenix men won its home opener over in state, D3 foe Ripon College, taking down the Redhawks 83-63 in front of a packed Kress Center on Monday afternoon.
Early on, Green Bay found itself deadlocked, against a smaller school, in front of school kids from all around the area, very reminiscent of a certain game last season. With four non-D1 schools already having beaten D1 teams in the first week of the season, it is hard to avoid the flashbacks to that contest. However, with an older, experienced team, the Phoenix were able to squash those concerns.
Ripon opened the game with a barrage of three point shooting, as Jarton Davis was good from deep twice, and scored 8 of the 10 points for the Redhawks prior to the first media time out. The D3 opponent held onto the lead through the second media timeout, as Green Bay started to find its footing, but trailed 15 to 14 at the stoppage. Ripon kept the foot on proverbial pedal early on, as it would maintain and extend the lead whenever Green Bay would pull within a single score, as Davis scored on back to back Redhawks possessions at the midway point of the 1st half.
The Phoenix would finally get a lead back on a 5 to 0 run as Justin Allen and Marcus Hall scored to put Green Bay in front at 23-22 with 8:25 left in the opening half. Ripon quickly regained the lead on a Keenan Rahn made triple, before Hall helped rally the Phoenix prior to the final media stoppage of the first. Green Bay forced a Ripon turnover and Caden Wilkins, fresh off a career game against Buffalo last week, splashed a deep ball to extend the Phoenix lead up to four points. The Redhawks would manage a rally of its own, grabbing one more lead in the half, at 35 to 34 after a Davis layup, which promptly was answered back by Mac Wrecke earning and converting an And 1. Wrecke extended the Green Bay lead by a single point by splitting a trip to the free throw line in the final minute, giving the Phoenix a 38 to 35 advantage at the break.
As the teams came out of the locker rooms, Wrecke kept the momentum going, earning a trip to the line and hitting both free throws to continue the Phoenix run. After a stop on the defensive end of the floor, Phoenix guard Preston Ruedinger knocked down a triple to extend the lead out to eight. Ripon finally got on the board with a made three of its own, sunk by Michael Asman to narrow the gap to five points, but that would be as close as the Redhawks would get for the remainder of the contest.
Green Bay would go on to attack the lane heavily as Wrecke, Hall, and Maruan Cicic all got to the paint and made shots. By the first media stoppage in the second half the Phoenix lead was up to 52 to 41. In fact, after Ruedinger’s triple in the early going of the period, all of Green Bay’s points came in the lane or from the free throw line until Josh Hines hit a deep ball with 11:27 remaining in the contest. The Phoenix kept attacking the paint, building the lead by outmuscling Ripon until a Wrecke 3 with 5:33 remaining in the ball game, keeping the lead at or near 20 points for the remainder of the contest.
Of note, over half of the Phoenix’s points came from inside the paint, outscoring the Redhawks 48 to 12 in the area. Green Bay also distributed the ball with efficiency, tallying assists on 23 of the team’s 29 made field goals in the game. The Phoenix were lead in scoring by Hall, who notched a season high of 21 points including an 11 of 14 effort from the free throw line. Green Bay also got double digit scoring efforts three of its five starters in Wrecke (13), CJ O’Hara (11), and Cicic (10). Ruedinger led all players with 7 assists in the contest.
Green Bay kicks off a lengthy road trip, as it looks to avenge last season’s loss to St. Thomas on Thursday evening. The Phoenix will stay in the Land of 10,000 lakes to play Minnesota on Saturday, before heading to the US Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam event. Green Bay finally returns home on November 29th.
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