Mens College Basketball: Green Bay defeats Cleveland State 66-59
By: Nick Goddard
Updated: February 16, 2013
CLEVELAND, Ohio (GreenBayPhoenix.com)
- Down 13 points just 49 seconds into the second half, visiting Green
Bay (14-12, 8-5 HL) turned to its stars and its defense. Both delivered
down the stretch as the Phoenix
outscored Cleveland State (12-15, 4-9 HL) 39-19 from that point on and
held on for a 66-59 win in Horizon League men's basketball action.
Sophomore Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) and junior Alec Brown
(Winona, Minn.) combined for 31 of Green Bay's 39 points after
halftime, with Sykes scoring 19 points of his game-high 23 in the second
half.
Brown drained a pair of three-pointers and tallied 12 of his 17 points
in the final 20 minutes as the Preseason All-League duo outscored the
Vikings 31-23.
In the second half in the
past two games, Green Bay has held Detroit and Cleveland State to 26 and
23 points, respectively, to erase halftime deficits.
After Green Bay fell behind
40-27, Brown and Sykes scored nine points during a 15-0 run over the
next seven minutes to turn the deficit into a 42-40 lead with 12:57
remaining.
CSU responded with the next
five points, but Brown quickly put the Phoenix back in front with a
three-pointer and a baseline jam as part of a 7-0 spurt and a 49-45
lead. The teams traded impressive offense on the next
four possessions, with Bryn Forbes hitting two three-pointers for the
Vikings and Sykes scoring on a three-point play and Brown hitting
another three for the Phoenix.
After a stop, Sykes drilled a
three-pointer from the left wing for a 58-51 lead with 3:09 remaining.
After making just 7-of-30 three-pointers as a freshman, Sykes has
knocked down 21-of-46 from long range as a sophomore,
including 2-of-3 on Friday.
Cleveland State refused to go
away, scoring the next six points to cut the lead to 58-57 with 1:31 to
play. On the next possession, Brown missed a jumper but freshman Jordan Fouse (Racine, Wis.) put back the
rebound. The Phoenix got a stop on the next possession and Sykes made six free throws in the final 32 seconds to close the win.
Green Bay made all nine of its free throws in the second half and finished the game 19-of-21 from the charity stripe.
Sykes scored or assisted on
nine of the team's 13 second-half buckets and made 5-of-7 field goals
and all six of his free throws. In the past two games, Sykes has scored
32 second-half points and scored or assisted
on 19 of the team's 26 field goals.
Led by sophomore Greg Mays
(Chicago, Ill.), who had his first double-double since his college
debut with 10 points and 10 rebounds, Green Bay held a 30-27 edge on the
glass. Brown had five of the eight blocked
shots for the Phoenix to go over 200 for his career. Brown now has 203
career blocks, tying him for third all-time in Horizon League history.
The Phoenix, sitting in a
third place tie in the Horizon League standings, will now visit
Youngstown State on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. CT.
