The Wisconsin Herd fell 114-95 to the Grand Rapids Gold in an NBA G League Tip Off Tournament matchup at the Oshkosh Arena on Wednesday night.
Forward Pete Nance led the way for the Herd (1-4) with a team-high 22 points on the night to follow up on a career high 34 points in the win over the Cleveland Charge on Nov. 15. Guard Craig Randall II was second on the Herd with 14 points.
Wisconsin had five overall double digit scorers but that wasn’t enough to compete with the duo of Gold (5-1) forwards DaRon Holmes II and Kessler Edwards, who both recorded 27 and 21 respective points. The Gold only had two other different double-digit scorers on the team.
The Herd outshot the Grand Rapids from 3-point range 38.5% to the Gold’s 29.2%. As a whole, Grand Rapids outshot Wisconsin 47.1% to 40.4%. Grand Rapids also totalled 59 rebounds while the Herd pulled down 43 boards.
The Herd kicked off the scoring behind a 3-pointer from guard Victor Oladipo and a layup from Jeremiah Tilmon to take a 5-0 lead. The Herd went on to shoot 25% for the remainder of the first quarter after a seven minute scoreless drought. In that time, the Gold went on a 20-0 run behind nine points from Edwards to make it 20-5 Grand Rapids. Nance broke the scoreless streak for the Herd and scored his first four points of the game at the end of the quarter as it ended with Wisconsin trailing 22-12.
For most of the second quarter, the Herd stayed within eight to 10 points of the Gold lead despite having seven turnovers in the quarter, and Wisconsin trailed 56-42 going into the half. Holmes II came alive for the Gold in the second quarter as he led the team with 11 points going 6-for-10 in from the field and 3-for-7 in from 3-point land.
Just like the second quarter, for most of the third quarter, the Herd kept the deficit within eight points. That was until with about 2:42 left in the period when a 3-pointer from Holmes II ignited a 14-2 Gold run to turn a 76-66 lead into a 90-68 lead at the end of the quarter, later cruising to the 19-point victory following a dominant final period.
The Herd will return home in the NBA G League Tip-off Tournament with two games on Friday and Saturday (Nov. 21 and 22) against the Sioux Falls Skyforce. Tip-off will take place at 7 p.m. on both nights respectively.
