How nice it is to get back home. The Motor City Cruise would make a quick stop back home at Wayne State Fieldhouse to take on the Wisconsin Herd. This would be their third contest with Wisconsin in five days.
A Little Home Cooking
The Cruise would get off to a hot start in this one, grabbing an early 9-2 lead early in the quarter. They would continue that torrid pace for much of the quarter, taking a 31-25 lead heading into the 2nd quarter of play. You could tell Stanley Umude was glad to be back in the mitten; he came out like a man possessed in this one, putting up 11-points in the quarter. The Herd weren’t going anywhere, though, as they kept up with the pace to keep within distance.
Both teams would set a blaze in the next 12:00 minutes of play, combining for 71-points in the quarter. Motor City would start to put some distance between the two, however, with about 5:30 to play in the half. The Cruise would go on a 9-2 run to get their lead to double digits at 51-40. They would head into the half with a 66-60 lead as they were taking advantage of being back on their home court. Jaylen Johnson and Kyler Edwards would get into the scoring act with each grabbing 8-points apiece, respectively, in the quarter. Jontay Porter Jordan Bone led the way for the Herd who would not let the Cruise put much distance between them,
Momentum Shift
Each team would start the 2nd half struggling to find points. But the Herd would start to shift the momentum a little bit here. They would put together a 10-4 run together midway through the 3rd quarter, and all of a sudden, we had ourselves a tie game. Wisconsin would take the lead by putting their best defensive effort together in the period. Motor City would look to stand tall as they would take an 83-84 deficit to the 4th.
Wisconsin would get off to a hot start to the quarter by putting together a quick 8-0 run that would build their lead to 92-83. Not so fast, however. The Cruise would respond in a hurry with an 8-0 run of their own and it was back to just a one-point game. Then with about 3:04 to play, Umude would find his way to the rim and the hometown Cruise would give themselves the lead back. AJ Green would knock down a big 3-point pull up shot with about a minute remaining as the Cruise would find themselves in a four-point hole and having to play the free-throw game. Motor City would not score again in the final minute as the Herd would knock down most of their free throws. The Cruise would show their fight again, but they would go on to drop this one, 117-105. Wisconsin was led by big shots and free throws late. Jules Bernard came up with timely play throughout the period, but Motor City would go cold to end the game.
The Numbers
AJ Green led the Herd in points on the night, including some daggers to the Cruise. He would go for 22 points which would include 6 three-pointers. Jontay Porter was a thorn in the side again for Motor City. Porter pitched in 19 points and 7 rebounds. Rob Edwards put up 18 points, 6 rebounds and led the way on defense with 4 steals. Jordan Bone helped to gain the momentum back for the Herd. He went for 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Lindell Wigginton had 16 points and 6 rebounds. Wisconsin would go 19 of 43 from deep on the night.
Stanley Umude had himself another great game. The rookie out of Arkansas put up 25 points and really helped the cruise grab momentum early in the game. Jules Bernard struggled with his shot a little but still finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, showing the many ways he helps this team. Jaylen Johnson was big off the bench for the Cruise, finishing with a double-double in the game. He would go 3 of 4 from three-point range as well. Devontae Cacock and Kyler Edwards provided some big moments on the night, combining for 21 points.
Next Up
Wisconsin has momentum putting their record at 4-3 on the season. Motor City will drop to 1-5 but will try and stop the bleeding a bit when they travel to Cleveland to take on the Charge Saturday night. That game is slated for a 7:00 start time at Wolstein Center.
