The Wisconsin Herd won its sixth straight contest after taking down the Grand Rapids Gold 105-86 Feb. 11 at the Van Andel Arena.
The Herd (12-8) have jumped into second place in the Eastern Conference of the NBA G League on their six-game win streak and Wisconsin sits 0.5 games behind the first-place Delaware Blue Coats.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Chris Livingston led Wisconsin with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Herd guard TyTy Washington Jr. scored 21 points and nine rebounds while center Marques Bolden had a 16-point, 17-rebound double-double. Forward Wenyen Gabriel added 15 points and nine rebounds.
Wisconsin shot 49.5% from the field and 25.7% from 3-point range in the win. The Herd outrebounded the Gold 56-41 and paced Grand Rapids in assists (28-22) but turned the ball over 10 times.
Grand Rapids (9-8) was led by forward Braxton Key, who scored 21 points and seven boards. Center Jay Huff scored 17 points and had nine rebounds while both Andrew Funk and Jalen Pickett finished with 12 points.
The Gold, which turned the ball over 14 times, finished the contest shooting 39.5% from the floor and 34.3% from behind the arc.
Grand Rapids took an early 4-0 lead in the first quarter after back-to-back layups from Huff, but Washington Jr. responded with a 3-pointer to draw the Herd to within a point. A finger-roll layup from the Herd’s Glenn Robinson III sparked a 19-5 run that gave Wisconsin a 10-point lead midway through the period. Back-to-back baskets from Grand Rapids cut the Gold deficit to six points, but the Herd maintained a 28-23 lead at the end of the quarter.
Both teams swapped baskets to begin the second quarter until a Gabriel putback sparked an 11-0 run that gave the Herd a 16-point lead midway through the quarter. Wisconsin claimed a double-digit lead for most of the quarter, and a 3-pointer from Pickett at the buzzer cut the Herd’s lead to 54-42 at halftime.
Washington Jr. kicked off the third quarter with a jumper to give Wisconsin a 14-point advantage, but Funk responded with a layup on the next possession. The two teams traded baskets for the first eight minutes of the period until a 3-pointer from Key and a layup from Pickett cut the Herd’s lead to six points. Gabriel connected on back-to-back shots, but Key hit a free throw in the final seconds as the period ended with the Herd on top 78-70.
The Herd went on an 8-0 run in the early stages of the fourth quarter and took a 14-point lead after a 3-pointer from Hughes. Wisconsin embarked on a 15-0 run after a 3-pointer from Gabriel and the Gold had no response as the Herd cruised to a 19-point win.
After the game, Livingston was recalled back to the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Herd enjoy a week off for the NBA All-Star Game before heading back home to the Oshkosh Arena Feb. 22 to take on the Rip City Remix (10-7) with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m.
