Wisconsin Herd shooting guard A.J. Green had a game-high 30 points, but it was not enough as the Herd fell 131-116 to the Long Island Nets Jan. 30 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The teams traded baskets for most of the first quarter until a Paris Bass 3-pointer kickstarted a 10-2 run that saw the Herd (5-8) take an eight-point lead. Green, a two-way player with the Milwaukee Bucks, scored seven points in the final 50 seconds of the period and Wisconsin went into the break shooting 70% from the floor with a 38-30 advantage.

Long Island (13-3) began to chip away at the Herd lead in the second quarter and a Jordan Bowden 3-pointer cut the Wisconsin advantage to one point with just over five minutes to play in the half. On their next possession, the Nets went down the court and Kaiser Gates hit a 3-pointer as Long Island took the 56-54 lead. Long Island proceeded to go on a 10-0 run and Wisconsin quickly found themselves down 12 points late in the first half. The Herd only allowed two points in the final two minutes but went into the half trailing 68-59.

The third quarter was mostly back-and-forth between the two teams and the Herd came within seven points of the Nets following a hook shot from Alize Johnson, who was traded to the Herd from the Austin Spurs Jan. 20. This would be the closest Wisconsin would get to Long Island in the quarter, with Gates hitting a crucial 3-pointer to send the Nets into a double-digit lead with seven minutes to go in the period. Long Island would maintain their double-digit lead for the rest of the third quarter, going into the break up 101-88.

Long Island hit four straight 3-pointers to begin the final quarter, increasing their lead to 16 points with just over eight minutes to go in the game. Green, who shot 6-8 from 3-point land in the game, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 10 points. This would be the closest the Herd came to the Nets in the quarter and Wisconsin, who was held scoreless in the final two minutes of play, picked up their ninth loss of the season.

Green finished four rebounds short of a double-double, shooting 12-17 from the floor. Johnson finished the contest with a game-high 11 rebound to go along with his 16 points. Jordan Bone had seven assists to go along with 16 points while Rob Edwards and Elijah Hughes both finished with 12 points, respectively. Bass proved to be valuable off the bench, scoring 18 points and grabbing seven boards.

For Long Island, Gates finished with a double-double, scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds off the bench while David Duke Jr. also had a 25-point game. Chris Chiozza had a double-double in the contest, scoring 13 points and dishing out 13 assists. Bowden finished with 24 points and center RaiQuan Gray added 19 points.

The Herd, who sit 11th in the Eastern Conference, will be back home to take on the Westchester Knicks Feb. 1 at the Oshkosh Arena at 6 p.m.

The Herd fell 116-102 to the Greensboro Swarm (3-9) Jan. 28 at the Oshkosh Arena for their eighth loss in their last 10 games. The Herd were outscored in each of the first three quarters of the game behind a 23-point performance from Theo Maledon.

After finding themselves down 102-77 after the third quarter, the Herd finished the game outscoring the Swarm 25-14 in the final quarter, but it was too little too late as Wisconsin was defeated for the eighth time this season. Milwaukee Bucks forward MarJon Beauchamp suited up for the Herd in the game, scoring 20 points to be the team’s leading scorer.

Wisconsin broke their three-game losing streak Jan. 27 at the Oshkosh Arena where they defeated the Swarm 115-112. The Swarm came out shooting lights out, putting up 43 points in the first quarter and leading 75-47 at halftime. 

Bass took over for the Herd in the third quarter, scoring 19 points in four minutes as the Herd went on a 22-2 run and found themselves trailing by nine points at the end of the period. Wisconsin opened the third period on a 19-6 run that saw the Herd take a 104-102 lead. The teams traded baskets for the final five minutes of the contest and Bass added a clutch layup to take a one-point lead with seven seconds left. A swarm offensive foul gave the ball right back to the Herd, who hung on for their fifth win of the season.