#HLMBB Scoreboard (Dec. 17)
Youngstown State 71, Bethune-Cookman 59
Green Bay 76, Tennessee Tech 49
UIC 88, Purdue-Calumet 61
For the second consecutive night, Horizon League men's basketball teams tabulated an undefeated night, as Youngstown State, Green Bay and UIC all recorded wins.
Youngstown State 71, Bethune-Cookman 59
Youngstown State picked up a 71-59 win over Bethune Cookman at the Beeghly Center.
YSU (8-5) scored 13 consecutive points during a key stretch between the first and second halves and led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
After scoring the final six points of the first half, the Penguins opened the second half by scoring the first basket of the second stanza. The lead never shunk below 12 unitl the final bucket of the night by the Wildcats.
Of note, it was the 100th YSU victory for Head Coach Jerry Slocum. Slocum is just one of two coaches in Penguin history to reach the mark, joining the legendary Dom Rossell.
The Penguins led 25-22 with less than 2:30 left in the first half when Kendrick Perry scored four straight points to kickstart the run. Bobby Hain ended the half with a bucket, and he punctuated the run with a three-point play at the 16:13 mark to put the Penguins up 38-22.
YSU went up by 20 for the first time at 47-27 at the 13:12 mark when Perry split a pair of free throws following a BCU technical foul. The lead reached 21 with 3:50 remaining following a pair of Weber free throws, but BCU scored seven consecutive points to climb within 68-54 with just over two minutes remaining. The Guins answered the run with a Kamren Belin 3-pointer 28 seconds later.
Perry scored 19 points, making four 3-pointers and went 7-of-11 from the free-throw line. Ryan Weber had 16 and Hain finished with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Malik Jackson scored 12 of his points in the first 13 minutes but didn't score again until the 8:19 mark of the second half. Mikel Trapp led the Wildcats (2-12) with 18 points and knocked down half of BCU's 3-pointers. Jackson finished with 16 points on the night.
The Penguins found their shooting stroke from behind the arc making four 3-pointers in the first nine minutes to take a 15-7 lead 11:28 mark. Bethune-Cookman chipped the lead back down to three, 18-15, after a 3-pointer by Malik Jackson with 7:23 to go.
A 3-pointer by Weber and a layup by Hain pushed the YSU edge back to eight, 23-15, but the Wildcats clawed deficit back to three, 23-20, on a jumper by Travis Elliott and a free throw from Barry Smith.
YSU closed out the half on an 8-2 run keyed by a 3-pointer and four free throws by Perry and a jumper by Hain to give the Penguins a 31-22 halftime lead.
In the first half, YSU shot 41.7 percent from the floor but was outrebounded by the Wildcats, 19-12. BCU had seven offensive rebounds but converted just two points on those second chances.
For the game, the Penguins shot 44 percent (22-of-50) and half of their made field goals came from behind the 3-point line (11-of-28). BCU shot 43.8 percent converting 21-of-48 attempts.
Green Bay 76, Tennessee Tech 49
Using a 38-3 run that spanned both halves, Green Bay turned a four-point deficit into a 31-point lead at the Resch Center, propelling the Phoenix to a 76-49 victory over visiting Tennessee Tech.
The victory was the fourth in the past five games for Green Bay (7-3) and helped the team avenge a road loss to the Golden Eagles last season.
With 4:16 remaining in the first half, Green Bay trailed its visitors 27-23 after an 11-2 run by Tennessee Tech. During the next 15 minutes and 27 seconds of game action, the Golden Eagles would make just 1-of-19 shots and commit 13 turnovers as the Phoenix took a 61-30 lead at the 8:49 mark.
After ending the first half on an 11-1 run to take a 34-28 halftime lead, Green Bay scored 27 of the first 29 in the second half. Keifer Sykes and Vince Garrett scored the first 11 points for Green Bay in the second half.
Sykes, who had 11 points at halftime, went to the bench at the 14:59 mark after a hard fall, but the All-League point guard returned for a couple of minutes midway through the half. He finished with a team-high 17 points in 26 minutes.
Garrett scored all of his career-high 16 points during the second half, including nine during the decisive run coming out of intermission. The senior went 5-of-10 from the field, 2-of-3 from long range and 4-for-4 from the charity stripe.
For the night, Green Bay held the Golden Eagles to just 30.2 percent from the field (19-for-63) and 1-for-16 from beyond the arc. The Phoenix defense, led by Jordan Fouse and Alec Brown, tallied nine blocks and 15 steals. Fouse finished with six points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals and two blocks while Brown totaled 15 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals.
Green Bay shot 60.9 percent from the field in the second half and finished 27-of-52 overall for 51.9 percent.
UIC 88, Purdue-Calumet 61
UIC picked up its second straight win on Tuesday night in an 88-61 drumming against Purdue Calumet inside the UIC Pavilion.
UIC (5-6) totaled five players in double figures as senior Jordan Harks led the way with season-highs of 15 points and 12 rebounds, his second double-double of the year. Harks was nearly perfect from the field, hitting seven of his eight shot attempts. Freshman Pat Birt and sophomore Jake Wiegand collected career-highs with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
UIC jumped out quick by scoring the first four points and built a double-digit lead just over 10 minutes into the game. The Flames used a 24-4 run midway through the first half to take a 40-15 advantage and went into the locker ahead, 43-19. The Peregrine's 19 first-half points stands as the lowest opponent output in any half against Flames this season.
UIC worked the interior all night, netting more than half of their team total in the paint and outscored Purdue Calumet 50-22, UIC's second-highest sum this season. Those inside looks gave the Flames a 55.2 percent shooting mark (32-of-58), compared to just 34.5 percent (20-of-58) for the Peregrines, UIC's lowest opponent mark this year.
Marc Brown put up 13 points, his third-straight double-digit game, while senior Hayden Humes added 10. Along with his 14 points, Birt sank a career-high five field goals.
The Flames recorded a season-high 12 steals and forced 18 PUC turnovers, converting those miscues into 25 points. Harks tied a career-high with three steals as Birt, Humes and Jay Parker collected two apiece.
Kelsey Barlow posted his second consecutive game with eight assists, tying a career-high as he has now led UIC in helpers in all but one game this season. Barlow, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Week, entered the matchup averaging 25 points per contest in his last four games, but was held to nine points.
The Flames displayed offensive balance as eight players recorded five or more points, while UIC dished off a season-best 18 assists.
Freshman Frank Dounis drained a pair of free throws late in the game to record his first collegiate points.
