You Herd It Here: Herd comeback twice against Mad Ants

5-0 start to the season

After a 3-0 start to the season, the Wisconsin Herd returned to Oshkosh for a pair of games against the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. Wisconsin had their first game last Friday night at the same time as the Bucks were beating the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Herd got a boost having Sandro Mamukelashvili join them and then shortly after, fellow rookie Georgios Kalaitzakis was assigned to the Herd.

Both rookies started the game on Friday along with Tremont Waters, Rayjon Tucker and Wenyen Gabriel. The game started as a back and forth affair with the Mad Ants taking a 30-26 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter was not Wisconsin’s friend as they struggled with Fort Wayne’s zone defense, as the Mad Ants got a hot streak and took their lead as high as 18 before a late run from the Herd trimmed the lead down to 11 by halftime. The Herd chipped away the lead, possession by possession, and eventually leaped ahead and went into the 4th quarter with a 83-81 advantage.

It continued to be a back and forth affair in the fourth quarter, but despite Fort Wayne having a three point lead late, Sam Cunliffe came up with the biggest shot of the game with a corner three that became a four-point play.

The Herd was able to get the stops as Kalaitzakis iced the game with two free throws to give the Herd a 111-108, bringing them to 4-0. Kalaitzakis had 14 points with eight rebounds and four assists while Sandro had a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Wisconsin had their second game against the Mad Ants two days later on Sunday night and was given another boost as two-way player Justin Robinson joined the squad for this game.

The Herd also played in some Hunter orange jerseys as a nice ode to opening weekend in Wisconsin.

Similar to Friday, the Herd started the game a bit slow and dug themselves in a hole against Fort Wayne trailing by as much as 16 points. But just like on Friday, they were able to get the run that they needed to come back and win 114-102. The Herd scored 57 points in the second half and held Fort Wayne to only ten points in the fourth quarter. Sandro had a better game with 22 points on nine of fourteen shooting and 10 rebounds, Robinson had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists while Kalaitzakas wasn’t having the best shooting night, but still contributed 12 points and six rebounds while playing more off-ball.

Wisconsin will have the week off and then has four games the following week, so be sure to follow them on social media. To watch their games, you can either go to NBAGleague.com or TV32 if you are in the Fox Valley area.