Horizon League Men's Basketball Weekly Release (Feb. 4, 2011)
Cleveland State strengthend its grip on first place in the Horizon League, while Valparaiso and Wright State remained in second and third place, respectively, on Thursday night. Youngstown State snapped its five-game skid by sending Butler down the League ladder.
In a matchup of teams separated at the top by one-half game, Cleveland State (21-3, 10-2 Horizon) was able to keep Valparaiso (16-7, 8-3 Horizon) at arm's length in a 76-65 victory. The Vikings opened a 1.5-game lead on the Crusaders with six contests remaining in its Horizon League season.
Norris Cole seemingly had an answer for every Valpo run, finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. Several of Cole's passes found their way to Jeremy Montgomery, who led all scorers with 26 points, going 7-of-10 from the floor.
Cleveland State never trailed in the game, leading by as much as 11 points, 47-36, before Valparaiso went on an 11-2 spurt to close within two points with 9:43 to play. The Vikings answered with a three from Montgomery off a Cole feed and then the League Player of the Year candidate followed with a jumper to restore a seven-point CSU advantage.
Valparaiso would mount one more challenge, getting a Howard Little layup to come within 63-60, but Cole responded once again with a jumper and the Vikings closed the game out at the free-throw line. Little led the Crusaders with 17 points, while Ryan Broekhoff added 15.
ESPN2 will carry Cleveland State's contest against Butler (14-9, 6-5 Horizon) at 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, as the Bulldogs suffered a 15-3 comeback by Youngstown State (8-14, 2-10 Horizon) over the final 5:27 in a 62-60 Penguin victory. Kendrick Perry knocked down the game-winning three with 20.9 second to play and the Penguins hung on despite missing the front end of 1-and-1 chances on two occasions in the closing seconds.
The Penguins led most of the contest, building a 31-22 lead early in the second half, opening the frame with back-to-back three-pointers. However, a 16-2 Butler run midway through the half put the Bulldogs ahead, 52-44, on a Zach Hahn three-pointer. After an Ashen Ward jumper, Matt Howard countered with a three from the wing that put Butler up, 60-52, with 3:51 left.
From there, Youngstown State went to work, as Ward knocked down a three to close the gap to five. Ward scored his seventh straight point on a jumper to bring the Penguins within three at 60-57. A Damian Eargle hook with 1:16 on the clock set the stage for Perry's heroics.
Butler had a chance to tie or win following the missed front end, but the outlet pass was wide of Ronald Nored, giving the ball back to Youngstown with 4.6 ticks left; a heave from the opposite three-point arc at the buzzer missed, giving Youngstown State its second win over Butler in 21 games since joining the Horizon League.
Eargle controlled the paint in leading YSU with 16 points, while Perry's three gave him 14 on the night. Shelvin Mack led all players with 18 points, with Matt Howard and Andrew Smith contributing 12 and 11 points, respectively.
At the WSU Nutter Center, Wright State (15-9, 8-4 Horizon) got off to a hot start and never truly cooled off, shooting 54.9 percent in a 76-63 win over visiting Loyola (13-10, 4-8 Horizon). Four starters finished in double figures for the Raiders, who closed within a half-game of Valparaiso for second place in the League.
Defensively, Wright State limited Loyola throughout, holding the Ramblers to 3-of-16 shooting from three-point range. Leading scorer Geoff McCammon was never able to get on track, finishing with 14 points on 4-of-16 shooting. Ben Averkamp posted 17 points to pace the Ramblers.
N'Gai Evans led the Raiders, slashing to the lane on a consistent basis to record 22 points and five assists. Missing Cooper Land and Troy Tabler, Johann Mpondo and Matt Vest stepped up for Wright State; Mpondo was perfect 6-of-6 from the floor, posting 15 points, while Vest ended the night with 13 points. Vest and Evans combined to go 5-for-5 from three-point range, leading the Raiders to a 9-of-17 effort from behind the arc.
Wright State will look to improve to 11-1 at home on Saturday, when they welcome UIC (6-17, 1-10 Horizon) to the WSU Nutter Center. The Flames got 25 points from Robo Kreps, but four Detroit (12-12, 6-6 Horizon) players in double figures carried the Titans to a 77-63 win at Calihan Hall.
Chase Simon led the way with 20 points, bringing Detroit within a half-game of fifth place and a full game from fourth in the Horizon League. Ray McCallum tallied his second career double-double with 12 points and 10 assists, while LaMarcus Lowe anchored the paint for the Titans. Lowe continued to climb the Titans' blocking charts, swatting six shots while contributing six points and five boards.
Paul Carter and Darrin Williams each added 10 to supplement Kreps' night, but a 15-5 Detroit run midway through the second half gave the Titans a lead they would not relinquish.
