Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 16)
#rv/rv New Mexico 66, UIC 59
Western Michigan 81, Loyola 71
Youngstown State 75, St. Francis (Pa.) 60
Wright State 56, North Carolina A&T 44
Green Bay 66, Southern Utah 54
Both Youngstown State and Wright State won in its respective home openers, while Green Bay raced past Southern Utah in the opener of its tournament.
#rv/rv New Mexico 66, UIC 59
After a miserable first half, UIC rallied in the final 20 minutes, only to come up just short in a 66-59 loss to New Mexico in the first round of the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam.
UIC (1-1) opened the game by shooting 9-of-31 from the floor, hanging around with New Mexico for the first 13 minutes of the first half before the Lobos pulled away to take a 37-23 lead into the half.
However, the Flames defense buckled down in the second half, holding New Mexico to just five field goals as UIC rallied throughout.
Hayden Humes and Gary Talton combined for 30 of the Flames’ 59 points, with Humes and Josh Crittle helping ignite the rally.
UIC opened the second half on a commanding 10-2 run, quickly trimming the Lobos' lead to just five, 43-38, by the under-12 media timeout. Crittle converted his first field goal of the game at the 11:26 mark, and scored all eight of his points in the ensuing 6:50 span, helping the Flames pull within two, 54-52, with 3:28 remaining.
UIC was within one possession twice in the final 1:33, but could draw no closer than a three-point deficit. Talton had UIC’s lone look to tie the game, but missed his three-point attempt with 1:28 remaining.
New Mexico went 9-for-9 from the charity stripe in the last 46 seconds to seal the result.
UIC held New Mexico to just five field goals in the second half and only a 31.3 percent effort from the floor. Meanwhile, the Flames shot 44.4 percent in the second frame. The Lobos were also forced into 18 turnovers, spearheaded by UIC's eight steals.
The Flames will face Mercer Saturday afternoon after the Bears dropped a 52-49 decision versus George Mason in Friday's opening game of the tournament.
Western Michigan 81, Loyola 71
Ordinarily, 48-percent shooting is enough to carry a team to victory. However, when the opposing team shoots 52.1-percent, the odds become much tougher. Despite its most productive offensive night of the season, Loyola fell to Western Michigan, 81-71, in the opener of the USF Invitational.
Through its first two games, Loyola (2-1) allowed only 45.5 points per contest, but ran into Western Michigan's Nate Hutcheson on Friday night. The guard poured in 30 points, outdueling Ben Averkamp’s 24-point effort the carry the Broncos.
Loyola hit 11 of 21 shots from three-point range, hitting 7 of 12 shots from behind the arc in the first half but turned the ball over seven times in the opening 20 minutes. Loyola's last five first-half field goals all came from behind the arc, with Matt O’Leary hitting four in the opening frame.
The second-half was a classic see-saw battle as the teams exchanged leads 12 times and Averkamp's lay-up at the 9:27 mark gave Loyola a 55-54 lead, which would be its last of the night. A little over a minute later, Austin Richie buried a three-pointer to put Western Michigan back on top and that triple ignited a 16-5 run that pushed the Broncos' lead to 70-60 and from there, Loyola would get no closer than eight points.
For the night, Hutcheson hit 6 of 8 shots from beyond the arc for Western Michigan, which drained 11 of 21 from long range as a team.
In addition to his 24 points, Averkamp pitched in five rebounds, four blocks and a pair of assists, while O'Leary finished with 14 points, 12 of which came in the opening half. Jordan Hicks added 13 points and four assists for the Ramblers, who also got nine assists from point guard Cully Payne.
Loyola resumes play at the USF Invitational tomorrow when it faces host South Florida at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Youngstown State 75, St. Francis (Pa.) 60
Struggling from the floor in the first 20 minutes of its home opener, Youngstown State delivered on its promise in the second half, rolling past St. Francis (Pa.), 75-60.
Youngstown State (3-0) led by just five points at the half and three with 17:55 remaining before finding its groove, shooting 60.7-percent in the second half to pull away.
Four players scored in double figures with Kendrick Perry taking game-high honors with 19. Blake Allen had 18, Damian Eargle had 12 and Kamren Belin finished with 12.
After collecting on just 1-of-6 three-point attempts in YSU’s 68-56 win at Georgia on Monday, Allen had the hot hand from behind the 3-point line. He made five 3-pointers in the second half and connected on six for the game. Allen was 6-of-12 for the game with all six conversions coming from behind the 3-point arc.
In front 31-28, an 8-0 burst gave YSU its first double-digit lead early in the second half. The Penguins then all but sealed the result, surging in front 47-32 at the 14:08 mark as Allen connected from long range. The closest the Red Flash could get was 11 in the second half.
For the game, YSU shot 50 percent making 26-of-52 shots, including an 8-for-16 mark from beyond the three-point arc.
After falling behind 21-17 with 6:07 left in the first half, the Penguins closed the half on a 12-3 run to seize the momentum. YSU answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to go on top 23-21. Perry connected from behind the arc and then Belin had a nifty block on the defensive end before draining a trey to put the Penguins up two.
SFU tied the game on Mosley putback before two Eargle free throws gave the Penguins a 25-23 lead. Belin's dunk extended the lead to 27-23 and Perry hit a driving layup with 1.2 seconds left before the half giving the Guins a five-point halftime advantage.
Wright State 56, North Carolina A&T 44
Behind a combined 29 points from JT Yoho and Miles Dixon, the Wright State men's basketball team won its home opener, defeating North Carolina A&T, 56-44, at WSU's Nutter Center.
Wright State (3-0) improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season, as Yoho collected his third consecutive double-figure scoring effort in as many collegiate games. For the second straight night, Yoho led the Raiders in scoring, posting 15 points. The freshman forward now has scored 46 points in his first three games.
Dixon added 14 off the bench.
The Raiders were on fire early, connecting on five three-pointers in the first 11 minutes in building a 24-12 advantage. The lead was still 12 before Austin Witter hit a three with 2:14 remaining to make it 29-20 at the half.
WSU shot 50 percent in the opening 20 minutes and was five of 14 from behind the arc while the Aggies shot just 29 percent.
North Carolina A&T drew to within five twice in the early stages of the second half, only to see Wright State put the game out of reach with a 17-8 run over a 10-minute span, six of those coming from Dixon and five by Yoho.
The Raiders shot 47 percent overall and outscored the Aggies 22-14 in the paint and 20-6 in points off of turnovers.
Green Bay 66, Southern Utah 54
Playing much closer to how most envisioned when the year started, Green Bay used its physical advantages to cruise past Southern Utah, 66-54, in the opening game of the World Vision Classic in Reno, Nev.
Green Bay (2-0) jumped out to an early lead and used a pair of double-doubles from Alec Brown and Brennan Cougill to knock off the Thunderbirds. Brown and Cougill each scored 17 points to lead the Phoenix and grabbed 13 and 10 rebounds, respectively. For Brown, who was limited to just eight minutes in the first half because of taking an elbow, it was his 12th career double-double.
Getting two early three-pointers from Keifer Sykes, Green Bay raced to a double-digit lead just eight minutes in and led 23-10 at the 9:57 mark. Brown went to the bench just three minutes into the game, but returned with four minutes left in the half. The 7-foot-1 All-Horizon League player had the last four points of the half and had nine points, five boards and a pair of blocks at the break despite logging just eight minutes. Green Bay led 34-24 at intermission.
Brown scored four of the first six points of the second half to push the Phoenix lead to 42-28 with 16:40 to play. The Thunderbirds used an 6-0 spurt to cut the deficit to eight and on five other occasions cut the Green Bay lead to single digits, but each time the Phoenix responded with a bucket and finished off the win.
Sykes, who scored 31 points in the opener, added 13 points and four assists while freshman Carrington Love gave the Phoenix a fourth double-figure scorer with a career-high 11 points. Sykes was a perfect 3-of-3 from long range while Love went 5-of-7 from the field.
Led by Brown and Cougill, Green Bay had a 51-40 edge on the boards and tallied eight blocks, tied for the fifth most in program history.
On Saturday, Green Bay faces a Nevada team that won 28 games a season ago and has one of the country's top mid-major players in Deonte Burton.
