Cleveland State, Loyola Come Away with Gritty Wednesday Victories

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 28)
Cleveland State 69, Ball State 63
Loyola 81, Tennessee Tech 78
Kent State 85, Youngstown State 78 (ot)

Cleveland State and Loyola each improved to 5-2 on the young season, while Youngstown State narrowly fell in overtime on Wednesday night.

Cleveland State 69, Ball State 63
Trailing by 12 points early, Cleveland State rallied in the second half to knock off host Ball State, 69-63, at Worthen Arena.

Cleveland State (5-2) struggled from the tip, falling behind 18-6 7:36 into the game. However, behind Charlie Lee and Devon Long in the first half, the Vikings closed the deficit to 34-30 by the half.

Over a 7:36 stretch, Cleveland State held Ball State without a field goal, as Long and Lee combined for 10 points as part of a 19-7 run that brought the Vikings within 26-25.

The Vikings fell behind, 46-37, six minutes into the second half, before Bryn Forbes came off the bench and carried Cleveland State to the win.

All 18 of Forbes’ points came in the second half, beginning with his three-pointer with 13:06 to play. After a layup and free throws, Forbes’ second three of the game put the Vikings ahead, 53-52, for the first time in the game.

The freshman then gave the Vikings the lead for good with three-pointers on back-to-back possessions, as Cleveland State opened a 60-54 advantage with 5:38 to play.

Forbes’ hot shooting was combined with the Vikings’ second defensive stand of the game, which ran 11:30. Cleveland State did not allow a Ball State field goal across the stretch, turning a 50-42 deficit into a 64-59 advantage by the time of Majok Majok’s layup with 34 seconds remaining.

Lee hit four free throws in the final 16 seconds to seal the game. The sophomore finished the night with 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Long scored 10 points while replacing Anton Grady in the starting lineup.

Playing without Grady (knee), the Vikings out-rebounded the Cardinals, 41-32, including 17 on the offensive end which they turned into 19 second half points. Marlin Mason and Tim Kamczyc helped overcome the absence by grabbing eight rebounds apiece.

Loyola 81, Tennessee Tech 78
Far more likely to be found playing at a slow to moderate pace, Loyola beat Tennessee Tech at its own game at the Gentile Arena, taking an 81-78 win.

Loyola (5-2) had 76 possessions in the game, officially playing at a “fast” pace for the first time this season. Though the Ramblers had 17 turnovers, they averaged 1.06 points per possession while forcing 20 turnovers from Tennessee Tech in 71 possessions.

Cully Payne enjoyed his most efficient game with Loyola, leading the team with 18 points, five assists and four steals. The junior’s 0.280 efficiency-per-possession rating was bested by teammate Jordan Hicks, who played his most complete game of the year with 15 points and six rebounds.

The Ramblers went to the free-throw line 36 times, hitting just 25 as they left the door open for a frantic Tennessee Tech comeback in the final minute of play.

Loyola led by as many as 14 points, as a personal 7-0 run by Devon Turk boosted the Ramblers to a 58-44 lead with 11:44 remaining. Turk had an electrifying dunk, sandwiching free throws around a conventional three-pointer to complete the burst.

With 2:28 to play, the Ramblers still led by nine points, 75-66, after a three from Payne, but missed free throws left the door open for Tennessee Tech.

Loyola was just 6-of-12 in the final 69 seconds of play, with the Golden Eagles knocking down two three-pointers and a jumper to close within 79-78 with 8.1 seconds remaining.

Joe Crisman went to the line and hit both free throws to provide the game’s final margin, with Tennessee Tech missing a contested three with three seconds to play.

Payne and Hicks were joined in double figures by Ben Averkamp, who added 16 points and four of Loyola’s six blocks.

Kent State 85, Youngstown State 78 (ot)
Youngstown State men's basketball team suffered a disappointing 85-78 overtime loss to Kent State at the Beeghly Center. The game featured 19 ties and 17 lead changes, the last of which was in favor of the Golden Flashes.

Youngstown State (3-4) has lost four consecutive games, with three of losses coming in overtime or the final seconds of regulation.

Both teams had opportunities late in regulation to win the game, but could not capitalize.

YSU had a chance to go on top with 1:14 left, but Kamren Belin missed the second of two free-throw attempts. KSU had the first chance to go in front, but Chris Evans' layup rimmed out and was rebounded by Damian Eargle.

The Penguins called timeout with 33 seconds to set up a play that had D.J. Cole find a driving Kendrick Perry, but Perry's four-footer in the lane rimmed out and Kent State's Mark Henninger grabbed the board.

Eargle's long reach helped force overtime as Randal Holt switched on a screen but Eargle stayed in his face and his shot at the buzzer glanced off the rim.

In overtime, the Penguins had two two-point leads, but Kent State went on a mini four-point run to lead 78-74 on an old-fashioned three-point play by Darren Goodson at the 2:21 mark. Two Perry free throws cut the deficit to 78-76, but four straight free throws by the Golden Flashes extended the lead to 82-76 with 22.5 seconds remaining.

For the game, YSU shot 42.2 percent making 27-of-64 attempts while Kent State converted at a 42-percent clip connecting on 29-of-69 shots. The Golden Flashes crashed the offensive glass, holding an offensive rebounding rate of 41.0 percent, compared to the Penguins’ 33.3 percent.

 In overtime, KSU made 4-of-6 attempts and was 8-of-9 from the free-throw line while YSU was 4-of-9 and 2-of-4.

Perry led all scorers with 26 points and went 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. Eargle had 18 points and 10 rebounds while Blake Allen added 12 points. With four blocks, Eargle became the Horizon League’s career leader in blocks with 230 in his three years.

For Kent State, Chris Evans had 24 points and 10 rebounds while Holt had 21. Melvin Tabb had 15 points off the bench.

YSU led by two following a fast-paced first half. The opening 20 minutes featured eight ties and six lead changes.

The Penguins shot an impressive 48.3 percent from the field making 14-of-29 shots, but were just 1-of-10 from behind the arc. From inside the arc, YSU was 13-of-19 (68.4 percent). Kent State made just 12 of 34 shots, but connected on 5-of-10 3-point attempts.

The Golden Flashes led by four on two occasions, the last time at 26-22 with 6:31 remaining in the stanza.

YSU used an 8-0 run to forge its biggest lead of the opening half. Perry made two free throws, Eargle followed with a 15-footer, Perry converted an old-fashioned three-point play and Bobby Hain's tip back of his own miss put the Guins on top 36-29 with 2:10 remaining.

However, the Golden Flashes scored the final five points on a 3-pointer by Evans and a jumper by Tabb to get within 36-34 at the break.