Phoenix Rolls on with 78-59 Win Over Cleveland State

UW-Green Bay will play Youngstown State in second round game Friday

Troy Cotton knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers Tuesday night.

Feb. 27, 2007

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Troy Cotton scored a game-high 19 points, including hitting five 3-pointers, as the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay men's basketball team advanced in the Horizon League tournament with a 78-59 first-round win over Cleveland State Tuesday evening at the Resch Center.

With the win, the fourth-seeded Phoenix (17-14) advances to take on Youngstown State, the No. 5 seed, at 7 p.m. Central time Friday in Dayton, Ohio. The Penguins were an 82-80 winner over Detroit Tuesday.

Cleveland State (10-21) led by as many as six in the first half at 18-12, behind hitting eight of their first 11 shots, before the Phoenix finally got its offense going. An eight-point run gave UW-Green Bay a 20-18 advantage and another 12-4 spurt after the game was tied helped the Phoenix go ahead 34-26 with three minutes remaining in the opening half.

The Vikings would eventually get back to within 38-34 at the intermission behind 12 first-half points by J'Nathan Bullock.

UW-Green Bay wasted little time in building up its advantage to a comfortable margin. Leading by three in the early stages of the second half, the Phoenix embarked on a 14-3 run behind eight points by Cotton to surge ahead 54-40 with 12:57 remaining.

Cleveland State would get no closer than nine the rest of the way as the Vikings shot just 6 of 25 (24.0 percent) in the second half compared to 15 of 23 (65.2 percent) for UW-Green Bay.

For all of Cotton's offensive spark, Terry Evans practically lit a fire on the defensive end. Fresh off being named to the Horizon League all-defensive team for the second straight season, the sophomore forward set a new league tournament single-game record with six blocked shots and also had two steals. The pair of steals pushed his season total to 54, breaking the school sophomore record and bringing him with three of UW-Green Bay's overall season record.

Evans also provided 12 points and eight rebounds including a spectacular, soaring rebound slam in the second half.

Senior guard Ryan Evanochko had a perfect shooting night in what was most likely his final game at the Resch Center, making all six field goal attempts and four free throw tries on his way to scoring 16 points while handing out five assists. He also moved up two spots on the school's all-time scoring list into 13th place.

Mike Schachtner was also in double figures with 12 points while tying a season high with seven rebounds. The Phoenix shot 55.1 percent (27-49) for the contest compared to 36.0 percent (18-50) and held a 35-27 rebounding advantage.