For the first time in six seasons, the Green Bay Phoenix men’s basketball team is headed back to Indianapolis, as it took down Purdue Fort Wayne in a standalone game on Tuesday night. Green Bay held off a second half rally by the Mastodons to win, 64-56.
Purdue Fort Wayne got on the board first, with Yuval Levin connecting on a pair of free throws. From there, the Phoenix would go on a 10-0 run, led by a pair of threes by Marcus Hall, with Justin Allen and Third Team All-Horizon League player CJ O’Hara contributing buckets. Deangelo Elisee tightened the game by making a pair of buckets prior to the first media timeout of the game. Green Bay guard Preston Ruedinger noticed blood on the basketball and brought on the stoppage from an official timeout. Hall was the injured player, and was forced to come out briefly.
The lid went on the basket for both teams, with neither team scoring until after the under-12 media stoppage. Coming out of the break, with Hall back in the game, Ruedinger found O’Hara for a quick bucket. This score lifted the metaphorical lid off the hoop for both teams, as the Mastodons scored on their next possession. Green Bay followed by kicking off another run, this time an 8-0 streak, as the Phoenix extended its lead into double figures.
First Team All-Horizon guard Corey Hadnot II ended the run, scoring through a Ramel Bethea foul, but was unable to convert the three point play. Bethea got the points back on Green Bay’s ensuing possession, slamming down an alley-oop from LeBron Thomas. The two teams continued exchanging makes in the later part of the half, including five straight points by Thomas.
Chris Morgan hit a triple to trim the lead back to 10 points, but was quickly answered by Hall’s third long ball of the opening half. The Phoenix ballooned the lead as high as 15 points in the first half, but it was Hadnot II that closed out scoring in the period, hitting a three to send the two teams to the break, with Green Bay in front 34-22.
Green Bay got the opening possession of the half but could not convert, as Allen missed a layup near the end of the shot clock. Purdue Fort Wayne took advantage of the miss and got on the board courtesy of a DeAndre Craig, Jr. layup. Craig scored on three straight Mastodons possessions, helping Purdue Fort Wayne trim away the Phoenix advantage.
The Mastodons got the game as close as eight points before Hall connected on another three to give Green Bay some breathing room. Through the middle part of the second half, Purdue Fort Wayne trimmed the lead down to 4 points, only to see the Phoenix do enough to stem the tide with small runs to keep the game in Green Bay’s favor. A Hadnot short range jumper got the lead back to a single possession with 9:03 left in regulation, but was quickly answered by Allen getting back to back layups.
Green Bay used these points to spark an 8-0 run to extend the lead back to double figures with just 5:28 left on the clock. The Mastodons had one last gasp, as Hadnot scored six straight points, followed by a Mikale Stevenson three pointer to close the Phoenix lead to 54-52 with just over two minutes left. The Phoenix turned to their captain, as Ruedinger would draw a foul and make a pair of free throws to keep the lead. Purdue Fort Wayne quickly got an Elisee layup to bring the game back to a single possession advantage for Green Bay.
Once again, the Phoenix relied on Ruedinger, who called his own number, and drove the lane for a layup at the end of the shot clock to create a gap that the Mastodons would not be able to close any further. Hadnot missed a layup on the ensuing possession, and it was Ruedinger who drew the foul and hit his free throws to keep Green Bay in front. With 0:30 on the clock, Elisee threw down a dunk, leading to a Mastodons timeout to try one last rally, to no avail. Allen and Ruedinger both made their respective free throws to ice the game for Green Bay.
Hall led all scorers in the contest with 19 points in the victory, with Allen adding 13 and Ruedinger dropping 11 to aid in the Green Bay victory. Hadnot’s 15 led the way for the Mastodons, with Elisee adding 14 and Craig Jr. scoring 12 to round out the double figure scorers.
Green Bay will await Wednesday’s action to see when and who they will play in Indianapolis. Should the games go chalk, the Phoenix and Oakland would square off on Sunday in the newly added second round of the Horizon League Tournament, to play for a chance to get into the semifinal game on Tuesday. Should “Horizon Gonna Horizon” craziness factor in, with some first round upsets, Green Bay could find itself into the semifinals, two wins away from its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 10 years.
Purdue Fort Wayne’s season comes to a close with a 17-15 record, barring a postseason appearance. Just two seasons ago, the Mastodons finished as the runner up in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), falling to Norfolk State in the title game.
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