In a duel filled with massive playoff implications for both sides, a disastrous run midway through the second half did in the Wisconsin Herd as they were trounced by the Lakeland Magic on Friday night.
The Wisconsin Herd’s faint playoff hopes were put on life support on Friday night with their 119-99 loss to the seventh-seeded Lakeland Magic.
With plenty at stake for both teams entering the night, it was the Magic who struck first as they raced out ahead of the Herd to build a double-digit lead in the opening few minutes. Despite their efforts, the Herd couldn’t make up ground in the remainder of the quarter as the Magic led 33-25 after one.
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That carried over into the second with the Magic reinforcing their control of the game for the first few minutes of the period.
However, the Herd started to crawl their way back into it as they steadily closed the gap throughout the majority of the quarter, trailing 60-53 heading into halftime.
Unfortunately, the break in play got the better of the Herd as the Magic built up their lead to a comfortable place once again at the beginning of the third.
But the Herd sprung back into action to bring their deficit down to single digits and as low as five at the 2:57 mark of the period. After regrouping at that point, the Magic heeded the wake up call by closing out the quarter on a 11-4 run to lead 89-77 after three, which was helped by the Herd racking up costly unforced turnovers.
The Magic continued to run wild in the fourth as they went on a 16-3 run in roughly the first five minutes of the frame. With the game having flipped on its head in a matter of minutes, the air was let out of Menominee Nation Arena with the Herd doing what they could to bring their deficit down to a respectable level in the time that remained in the game.
With the loss Friday night, the Herd now stand at 20-24 in the season and they have six games left in the two weeks that remain in their debut campaign.