The Wisconsin Herd claimed their fourth win of the season after defeating the Motor City Cruise 131-122 at the Wayne State Fieldhouse Dec. 1.
The Herd (4-4) had three players score 20 points or more in the win and committed only six turnovers. Wisconsin shot 57.3% from the field and 37% from behind the arc while out rebounding the Cruise 40-38. Motor City (6-3) committed 11 turnovers and was held to 51.4% shooting from the floor and 34.4% from 3-point land.
With the win, the Herd remain in sixth place in the Central Division of the Showcase Cup standings and remain 1.5 games out of the final tournament spot.
Milwaukee Bucks two-way player Lindell Wigginton led the way with 26 points, seven assists and four rebounds for the Herd. Fellow two-way players TyTy Washington Jr. and Marques Bolden scored 24 and 20 points, respectively, while Jazian Gortman added 19 points off the bench. Chris Livingston nearly had a double-double for the Herd, scoring 17 points and seven rebounds.
Motor City was led by Zavier Simpson who scored a game-high 30 points, dished out six assists and grabbed three boards. Former Herd center Jontay Porter had a 23-point, 12-rebound double-double for the Cruise while Treveon Graham added 21 points.
The teams traded baskets for most of the first quarter until the Cruise went on a 5-0 run with under five minutes to play in the quarter to take a 23-18 lead after a Buddy Boeheim 3-pointer. The Herd quickly responded with a jumper from Washington and a 3-pointer from Alex Antetokounmpo to level the score at 23 all. With under two minutes to go in the period, Washington converted on a 3-point play to give the Herd a one-point lead, but Motor City ended the quarter on a 6-2 run to take a 33-30 lead.
The Cruise knocked down a 3-pointer to begin the second quarter to extend their advantage to six points, but the Herd went on a 10-4 run after a Gortman floater to tie the game at 40. Wisconsin took the lead after a 3-pointer from Bolden and the Herd went on a 10-2 late in the quarter to take a nine-point advantage. Motor City scored three of the final four baskets in the second quarter to cut the Herd lead to 63-59 going into halftime.
Simpson converted on a finger-roll layup to begin the third quarter to cut the Wisconsin lead to two points. Back-to-back 3-pointers from Motor City gave the Cruise a one-point lead with 10 minutes to play, but Wisconsin went on an 8-0 run to take a 73-67 lead after a 3-pointer from Wigginton. The Herd extended their lead to 12 points late in the quarter after 3-pointers from Washington Jr. and Gortman. Wisconsin held onto a double-digit lead for the remainder of the period and went into the break leading 101-89.
Gortman led off the fourth quarter by throwing down a dunk to extend Wisconsin’s advantage to 14 points. The Herd’s lead grew as high as 16 points early in the period, but the Cruise went on a 7-0 run with five minutes remaining in the game to cut the Wisconsin lead to 120-112. That would be as close as Motor City came the rest of the way and the Herd held on for a nine-point win.
The Herd will head back home to take on the Windy City Bulls (5-4) at the Oshkosh Arena Dec. 5 at 6 p.m.
