Phoenix in 'dance'

Special to The Journal

Dayton, Ohio The University of Wisconsin- Green Bay wasn't supposed to be in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament this year.

The Phoenix lost 50% of its scoring from last year; returned just two starters, one of whom averaged only 3.6 points a game last season; and had no player on the roster taller than 6 feet 7 inches.

Despite all that, and with a little help from lower-seeded teams in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament, the Phoenix will be making a repeat appearance in the "big dance."

"For {small} schools like ours, this is the pot of gold," Phoenix coach Dick Bennett said.

Led by 28 points from 6-6 junior center Jeff Nordgaard, the Phoenix earned the conference's automatic NCAA bid with a 73-59 victory over Wright State in the MCC tournament championship game Tuesday night.

The Phoenix (22-7), the third-seeded team in the MCC tournament, didn't have to face a higher-seeded squad in Dayton because Xavier and Illinois-Chicago suffered upset losses.

In the first half, Nordgaard made 8 of 12 shots and scored 19 points as UW-Green Bay forced the Raiders (13-17) to play catch- up and took the partisan Wright State crowd out of the game.

The Phoenix scored the game's first nine points.

The crowd of 9,730 couldn't provide the edge the host Raiders wanted.

"We wanted to come out strong, but {UW-Green Bay} took our thunder and was able to do what we wanted to do," Wright State coach Ralph Underhill said.

Every time the Raiders climbed to within 10 points in the second half, the Phoenix responded.

With 15:26 to play, the fans took heart when Delme Herriman took a lob pass from Rick Martinez and converted it into a layup to cut the lead to 43-33.

But Ben Berlowski, who made all six of his shots, hit a two- pointer, a three-pointer and two free throws in the next 2 minutes, and his personal seven- point run gave the Phoenix its largest lead of the game.

The Raiders managed to claw back to within 10 points again when Herriman's put-back with 4:56 left made the score 58-48.

But it was Nordgaard's night and the MVP of the MCC tournament made a high-arcing three-pointer with 4 seconds to go on the shot clock. It was Nordgaard's first three-pointer of the year and just the fifth of his career.

The shot quieted the crowd and started the Phoenix on a 7-0 run that paved the way to their second consecutive NCAA bid, their third in five years.

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