The Wisconsin Herd fell to the College Park Skyhawks 116-92 at the Oshkosh Arena Jan. 17 after a power outage delayed the game nearly 30 minutes.
With 1:32 to go in the first quarter and Wisconsin trailing 30-28, the power at the arena went out and the players and officials went back to their pitch-black respective locker rooms until power was restored. According to sources close to the team, the power outage did not originate in the Oshkosh Arena and the entire city block experienced the outage starting at 11:45 a.m.
After city officials fixed the problem, the power came back on at 12:15 p.m. and both teams came onto the floor to warm up before play resumed.
Wisconsin (4-4) lost their fourth straight game and shot just 37.8% from the floor including 36.7% from behind the arc. The Herd outrebounded the Skyhawks 49-46 but committed 18 turnovers in the loss.
Wisconsin was led by TyTy Washington Jr., who scored 15 points and had five assists. Drew Timme scored 14 points off the bench while Elijah Hughes added 13 points and five assists. Glenn Robinson III finished the contest with 12 points and six rebounds.
College Park (6-3) finished the contest shooting 47.7% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point territory. The Skyhawks turned the ball over just 10 times and finished with 11 steals and two blocks.
College Park was led by Kobe Bufkin who scored a game-high 25 points and dished out six assists. Robert Baker and Brandon Randolph both finished with 17 points in the game and Chris Silva added a 13-point, 12-rebound double-double.
Miles Norris opened the scoring with a jumper to give the Skyhawks an early lead, but Marques Bolden nailed a hook shot for the Herd and the two teams traded baskets for most of the first quarter. A 3-pointer from Norris and jumper from Jarkel Joiner put College Park up 18-13, but the Herd responded with a putback dunk from Wenyen Gabriel after an offensive rebound and a Washington Jr. jumper to trim the deficit to one point. The Skyhawks went on an 10-2 after back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 28-19 lead. Wisconsin went on a 9-2 run late in the quarter to draw to within two points of the Skyhawks after two 3-pointers from Hughes.
With 1:23 to go in the first quarter, the power went out at the Arena, causing the game to be delayed by nearly a half an hour. Once play restarted, College Park held onto a narrow advantage as the Skyhawks led 34-31 after the first period.
Baker hit a turnaround jumper to give the Skyhawks a 36-31 lead early in the second quarter, and College Park held onto at least a five-point lead for most of the period. A Silva layup kickstarted a 12-2 College Park run that saw the Skyhawks take a 48-37 advantage midway through the second quarter. The College Park lead grew as high as 20 points late in the period as the Skyhawks entered the locker room with a 71-53 lead.
The Skyhawks took a 20-point lead in the first few minutes of the third quarter following a free throw from Silva, but an 8-0 from the Herd midway through the period trimmed the deficit to 75-63. Wisconsin pulled to within 12 points after a Timme floater with two minutes left, but the Herd could not cut the Skyhawk lead to single digits as College Park led 90-74 at the break.
Norris connected on a driving layup to start the fourth quarter as College Park extended its lead to 18 points. The Skyhawks dominated the fourth quarter, going on a 15-0 run midway through the period to take a 111-81 advantage.
The Herd will take on the Skyhawks once again at the Oshkosh Arena Jan. 18 at 6 p.m.
