Phoenix fly past Raiders in second half

The Phoenix was finally able to close out a hard fought game in the final minutes.

Freshman point guard Keifer Sykes sunk two free-throws with three seconds remaining to put the Phoenix ahead 57-56 over Wright State Jan. 14. Sykes was able to get to the line as Wright State freshman forward Teveras Sledge fouled Sykes driving baseline.

A 61 percent free-throw shooter, Sykes knew the game was in his hands.

"I have been struggling at the free throw line," Sykes said. "I just came up to the line and was telling myself ‘I have to finish this game off, that it was on me.' Because a few games down the stretch we had miscommunications and I was apart of those plays."

Coming off a tough defeat losing to Milwaukee on a last second 3-point shot, things were not going Green Bay's way for most of the game against Wright State.

The Phoenix appeared to be out of sorts early on as the Raiders built a 17-point lead with 13:04 left in the game.

Things started to go in Green Bay's favor oddly enough when sophomore guard Kam Cerroni absorbed an inadvertent elbow from Wright State guard Armond Battle midway through the second half. With blood spewing from his eye, Cerroni remained on the court for a few minutes as he received medical treatment.

"After that, in the timeout, you could just see the fire, mostly in the coaches' eyes." Sykes said after the Cerroni injury. "Coach (Brian) Wardle told us we have to go out there and put it all out on the line."

The Phoenix were in the process of mounting their comeback before the Cerroni injury, in large part because of two 3-pointers Cerroni made within a span of 30 seconds to pull Green Bay within 11 with 11:31 left in the game.

"The big factor was when Kam Cerroni hit those threes," said Head Coach Brian Wardle.  "When Kam hit those threes it got us right back into the game, and then we kind of fed off the Cerroni situation, it was nothing intentional or anything like that. But he was bleeding, his teammates saw that and they rallied behind him."

After Cerroni's first 3-pointer with 12 minutes remaining to play, Green Bay went on a 28-10 run to close out the game and come up with a rare close victory.

"We have had so many close games lately," said sophomore center Alec Brown, who finished with a career high 11 blocks. "Our last four games have come down to the last minutes. It was huge to finally pull this one off."

What helped Green Bay complete the comeback was its ability to get to the free throw line and convert.

Sykes scored a game-high 16 points for Green Bay while going 10-14 from the free-throw line. The freshman point guard was not the only one getting to the line, as Green Bay went 26-35 as a team. Brown was 7-11 on his free throw attempts, finishing with nine points.

"We knew they were a little undersized so if we just attack the rim they would have to foul us most of the time," Brown said.

Green Bay scored its last eight points from the line with its last field goal coming on a Sykes lay up to tie the game at 49-49 with 4:23.

"We just kept pushing through as a unit, together, with each other," Sykes said of his teams comeback victory. "It tells a lot about our coaching staff and the teammates that I have because everyone could have counted us out."

Wardle was happy with the performance of his freshman point guard throughout the game and during the last exchange with the Phoenix trailing.

"Players make plays, Keifer Sykes made a play," Wardle said. "That is what it comes down to when you win these close games, is players making plays."

Most recently Green Bay has had two road losses against Cleveland State, 78-68, Jan. 20 and to Youngstown State Jan. 22, 77-47.