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Play-by-play: Benjamin Schroeder
Color: Harjun Buttar
Sideline Reporter: Andrew Deacon
Studio Producer: Noah Stalker
The Oakland Golden Grizzlies take care of business in their second-straight home game against the surging Green Bay Phoenix. The final score was 79-72.
Oakland came into this game off a thriller victory against the Milwaukee Panthers, in a game that came down to free throws at the end of the game. Oakland overcame an early deficit and did not give up a lead the entire game, and that momentum was key to stopping a Green Bay team that was starting to get their shooters, namely Noah Reynolds, who has been tearing it up recently for the Phoenix.
Green Bay came into this game off a four-game heater, in which the Phoenix won every single game by a double-digit margin. The most notable victory of the four was an 88-77 victory over Wright State, in which the Phoenix shot nearly 70% from the field, and completely shut down the Raiders’ scoring late in the game.
Oakland made it known to the Phoenix coach Sundance Wicks that they were going to punish his squad in the paint, and got up to a 13-5 lead with 14:33 to go following a Trey Townsend layup. The Phoenix went on a 10-3 run to take the lead, forcing Oakland coach Greg Kampe to call timeout.
Both teams laid punches going into halftime, and after speaking with Assistant Coach Mychal Covington, Oakland was going to keep going to what was working for them in the first half.
Halfway through the second, the Golden Grizzlies jumped out to a 10-point lead. The Phoenix got hot from three and took the lead back with 6:25 left to go. With an inspired 90-second stretch by Trey Townsend taking advantage of Green Bay’s sagging defense, Oakland went ahead with under 5 minutes to go.
A wild three-pointer by Green Bay’s Rich Byhre got Green Bay back in the game with plenty of time for Green Bay to potentially snatch this one away. 2 trips to the free throw line gave Isaiah Jones a total of four attempts to give Oakland the edge, which he converted on all four.
Oakland was able to take advantage of Green Bay’s dedication of personnel towards guarding Townsend and Chris Conway and got the Phoenix in foul trouble very early in both the first and second half. Green Bay missed a myriad of wide-open threes in the first half, opportunities they couldn’t afford to pass up if they wanted to win.
Oakland’s next game is against Marques Warrick and the Northern Kentucky Norse on January 10. Detroit Mercy may be Oakland’s primary rival, but the mutual hate between the Norse and the Grizzlies is a close second. It should be a close contest. Meanwhile, the Phoenix will be left picking up the pieces of their loss tonight as they prepare to take on the IUPUI Jaguars in Indianapolis.
WXOU’s next broadcast will be the Oakland-Northern Kentucky game on January 10th. Giovanni Moceri will be play-by-play, Drew Allison will be color, and Gavin Smilowski will be on the sideline for the contest. Tune into 88.3 FM WXOU for live coverage, or go to wxou.org/live to listen in.
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