Green Bay Remains Undefeated in #HLMBB Play

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 26)
Green Bay 62, Detroit 52

Green Bay 62, Detroit 52
Green Bay made 34 free throws as the Phoenix rallied late to top the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team 62-52 Sunday afternoon at the Resch Center.

Senior co-captain Evan Bruinsma led Detroit with 14 points and seven rebounds, while sophomore guard Carlton Brundidge added 11 points and six boards.

Junior Keifer Sykes had just six points at halftime, but scored half of his team’s 32 points in the second half to finish with a game-high 22 points. Sykes had a rare rough shooting night but made 11-of-12 free throws en route to his 13th 20-point game of the season. The 13 20-point games are the fourth-most in the program’s Division I history.

Detroit (9-13, 2-5 HL) led 50-49 with 7:53 left, before the Phoenix closed the game with a 13-2 run to win their 12th straight game. Green Bay made 6-of-7 free throw opportunities in the closing minutes to seal the win.

Green Bay (17-3, 7-0 HL) opened the game with an early 8-2 run after a dunk from Greg Mays and six-straight free throws, before the Titans answered back with a 9-2 run to take their first lead of the game 11-10. Detroit's run included a pair of three-pointers from Bruinsma. The Phoenix returned the favor with a 14-3 run to build their largest lead 24-14 with 4:08 left. But Detroit responded quickly with back-to-back layups from Jarod Williams and Brundidge to close the half with an 11-6 run to make the score 30-25 at intermission. The Titans held Green Bay to just six field goals in the first half, but the Phoenix capitalized on 16 Titan fouls to make 18-of-22 from the charity stripe.

Detroit scored 13 of the first 15 points of the second half to lead 38-32 with 15:56 on the clock. The Titans still held the lead (50-47) when Carlton Brundidge scored on a layup at the 8:57 mark, but Sykes scored on a dunk, sophomore Carrington Love converted a floater and senior Alec Brown (Winona, Minn.) drained a three during a 7-0 run that gave the hosts the lead for good.

From the 8:57 mark on, Green Bay’s defense held Detroit to just two points on 0-for-7 shooting from the field and five turnovers. The Titans only points during that stretch came on two free throws with 6:19 remaining.

Detroit shot 31.5 percent (17-of-54) overall, while holding Green Bay to just 28.3 percent (13-46). But the Phoenix made up for their shooting woes by making 82.9 percent from the free throw line (34-41), while Detroit finished 14-20 from the charity stripe.

Mays recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Phoenix while Love added 10 points and three steals while going a perfect 6-of-6 from the line. Brown added seven points, six rebounds and three blocks and Fouse finished with six points, five rebounds, three blocks and two steals.