Green Bay is back in the win column after it dropped four of its last five games, taking down Northern Kentucky on Wednesday night in a seesaw game that needed extra time to settle. The one game road trip saw Green Bay get down early, rally back to grab a commanding lead, watch it fade away, and ultimately leave the Bluegrass State with an 87-84 win.
The Norse grabbed the early advantage, holding an early nine to eight advantage into the first media break of the contest. Out of the break, Green Bay grabbed its first lead, though brief, as Northern Kentucky promptly took the lead back with a made three. Green Bay had an answer, only to see the advantage swing back to the Norse on another made three pointer. The Phoenix clawed back in, using the efforts of LeBron Thomas and Vukasin Todorovic to move in front. Green Bay guard CJ O’Hara got in on the action as well, scoring five points in a row, before Marcus Hall splashed a three to put the Phoenix up 31 to 18. This would mark the largest lead Green Bay would hold in the game. NKU rallied, outscoring Green Bay 13 to four over the remainder of the half, as the Phoenix headed to the locker room with a 35 to 31 lead.
O’Hara opened the second half strong, scoring the Phoenix’s first four points of the half, and assisting on a Caden Wilkins three to put Green Bay up by ten. Northern Kentucky called a timeout to try to stem the tide, using the media stoppage to get the offense back in gear, as LJ Wells scored to get the Green Bay lead back to single digits.
The Phoenix were able to match the Norse scoring efforts to get the lead back up to 10 points ahead of the under 16 media timeout. Northern Kentucky hit back to back threes to shrink the deficit, but O’Hara and Hall gave Green Bay a bit of breathing room. Shawn Nelson fouled Ramel Bethea, who powered through the contact for an and-1 opportunity, which Bethea converted after the under 12 media stoppage.
The Norse stormed back over the next stretch of action, cutting the lead down to just three before another Hall bucket. Green Bay couldn’t extend the lead further, as a bad pass went out of bounds and prompted the under 8 media timeout with just over six and a half minutes left in regulation. Donovan Oday led the Norse comeback efforts, scoring on back to back possessions, followed by Ethan Elliott hitting a pair of free throws to put NKU back in front at 64 to 63.
Green Bay went back in front on its next possession as O’Hara brought the final media stoppage by drawing a foul, and making the shot. After the break, O’Hara converted the three point play to try to swing momentum back to the Phoenix for the last stretch of regulation. Oday had a response though, hitting a three to put Northern Kentucky back in front.
The Norse matched its largest lead of the contest, five points, with just 0:31 left on the clock. Justin Allen cleaned up a Preston Ruedinger missed three to cut into the lead, then committed a foul to send Oday back to the line. Oday split the trip, up by four points, before the Norse sent O’Hara to the line with twelve seconds left. O’Hara made the first, but missed the second.
Luckily Green Bay got the rebound, leading to a Hall three pointer with 0:08 on the clock. The Norse took a timeout to advance the ball and Oday — trying to play hero for NKU — drove to the basket, but his shot was offline to send the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Green Bay and Northern Kentucky matched buckets to start, before the Phoenix jumped out to a five point advantage capped off with a Wilkins triple. Oday and Elliott responded back, putting the Norse in front after they hit back to back threes. With a minute to go, Green Bay tied the game after Hall split a trip at the charity stripe. Oday continued a strong day with a bucket that put NKU in front, only to be answered with another Wilkins long ball with 0:28 in the overtime period. Ruedinger sent Oday back to the line with 0:11 left, but Oday could only make the second free throw — tying the game once more.
Green Bay would get an opportunity to go for the win, and put the game in the hands of their captain. Ruedinger, playing despite an illness, got a pass near the NKU logo, walked to the left wing, and in the final moments, splashed a deep triple with under a second left. Northern Kentucky threw a three quarter court pass down the floor, but couldn’t get a shot off, sending Green Bay home with a win.
O’Hara led the Phoenix with 23 points, and was joined in double figures by Hall’s 15 points and Wilkins’ 11 points. In 14 minutes of game play, Todorovic added nine points in his first action since Green Bay hosted Oakland two weeks prior. The Norse had a quartet of double digit scorers, led by Oday’s game high 28 points. Tae Dozier added 20 points, Wells had 13 and Elliot rounded out the list of double figure scorers with 11 points off the bench.
Green Bay returns home on Saturday, hosting Detroit Mercy for a matinee contest. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., and marks the final scheduled game of the season at the Resch Center.
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