Bone scores season-high 28 points in Herd victory

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Jacob Link / Advance-Titan — Wisconsin Herd’s Jordan Bone shoots a buzzer-beating jump shot in the first quarter of the Herd’s 126-121 win on Jan 4.

Jacob Link, Co-Sports Editor

Guard Jordan Bone had a season-high 28 points and his seven 3-pointers matched a career-high as the Wisconsin Herd (2-0) won their fourth straight game, defeating the College Park Skyhawks (1-2) 126-121 Jan. 4 at the Oshkosh Arena.

Straight out of halftime, Wisconsin tied the game at 56 after an Elijah Hughes 3-pointer. In the first six minutes of the third quarter there were four ties in the game until the Herd took the lead when Hughes drove into the lane and converted on a floater. College Park retook the lead with just under two minutes to play in the third quarter, but the Herd ended the period on a 13-0 run capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from Center Jontay Porter.

Porter scored the first two Herd baskets to open the fourth quarter and increase the Wisconsin lead to 94-80. Wisconsin’s advantage grew to as many as 19 points until the Herd had a scoring drought that lasted three minutes, allowing the Skyhawks to go on a 26-2 run to cut the lead to five points. In the final minute of the game, Wisconsin had clutch 3-pointers from Joe Wieskamp and Lindell Wigginton as the Herd closed out the game with a 126-121 victory.

In the first five minutes of the first quarter, the Herd jumped out to an 18-4 lead after missing just four shots to open the contest. The Skyhawks started to chip away at the 14-point lead and cut the Wisconsin advantage to three points with three seconds to go in period. Bone received the ball off the inbounds pass, dribbled into the lane and put up a wild buzzer-beating shot as the Herd led 30-25 going into the first break.

College Park opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run to take a 34-30 lead after five quick points from Forward Tyrese Martin, his only points of the period. The rest of the second quarter was back and forth, with the Skyhawks’ Brandon Williams converting two free-throws to put College Park up 56-53 going into halftime. At the break, Bone led both teams with 16 points on 6-11 shooting.

The game was delayed by about 15 minutes after a fan reportedly had a seizure in the stands just before tip-off. The Oshkosh fire department quickly responded to help the fan, who was able to walk off on their own before receiving additional treatment.

Almost every Herd starter finished in double-figures with Wieskamp finishing with 18 points, Porter with 20 points, Bone with 28 points and Wigginton with 26 points. Porter finished with a career-high 19 while Wigginton added 10 assists as both players had their first double-double of the regular season.

For the Skyhawks, Williams led the team with 24 points while Tyrese Martin had a double-double with 20 points and 11 rebounds. NBA veteran Langston Galloway scored 19 points and Cat Barber added another 20 points off the bench.

With the win the Herd sit in third place in the Eastern Conference of the NBA G League. Wisconsin is just one of five teams that is still undefeated in the regular season. The G League regular season is separate from the Showcase Cup season that took place from Nov. 4 to Dec. 21.

Wisconsin will take on the Skyhawks Jan. 6 at the Oshkosh Arena at 7 p.m.