CSU, Green Bay Claim Saturday Wins

#HLMBB Scoreboard (Dec. 28)
Cleveland State 78, Kent State 70
Green Bay 91, St. Francis (Ill.) 41
#rv/rv Illinois 74, UIC 60

Cleveland State and Green Bay returned from an extended holiday break with victories, while UIC led Illinois at the half before succumbing at the United Center.

Cleveland State 78, Kent State 70
Cleveland State used a balanced scoring attack with five players in double figures and earned a big road win in the Vikings final nonconference tune-up with a 78-70 victory at Kent State.

CSU improved to 8-6 this year, while KSU fell to 9-3 and lost for just the second time in nine home games this year.

It marked the third straight year that the visiting team won on the other's home floor in the series.

Bryn Forbes and Sebastian Douglas scored 14 points apiece to lead CSU, while Trey Lewis and Anton Grady tallied 12 apiece. Marlin Mason finished with 10 points.

Forbes added a career-high tying five assists, while Douglas grabbed a career-best seven rebounds.

Derek Jackson scored 18 points for KSU, while Mark Henniger and Darren Goodson added 14 each.

The game was tied for the sixth time at 50-50 midway through the second half, but a 14-4 spurt by the Vikings allowed CSU to open up its largest lead at 64-54 on a Devon Long offensive rebound and putback with 5:13 to play. The lead reached 11, 66-55, less than a minute later on a Jon Harris layup, but eight straight points by the Golden Flashes brought them back within three at 66-63 with 3:02 to play.

On the next possession, Lewis had his pass tipped in the air, but was able to regain control on the right wing and knocked down a three-pointer to push the lead back to six points, 69-63, with 2:39 left.

The Vikings hit 9-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes to seal the key road win.

KSU took an early 7-4 lead, but an 11-2 run gave the Vikings a 15-6 lead six minutes in. Forbes hit a three-pointer to start the run that also featured back-to-back 3-pointers by Mason.

The Vikings finished the first half 5-of-8 from 3-point range, with five of their 11 first half field goals coming behind the arc.

CSU's lead was still six, 27-21, after a pair of Mason free throws with 3:22 to play in the half, but seven straight points by the Golden Flashes gave them a 28-27 advantage with 24 seconds left after two free throws by Derek Jackson.

But Forbes hit a three-pointer to beat the first half buzzer and give CSU a 30-28 lead at the intermission.

CSU shot 54.3 percent (25-46) from the field, the seventh time the Vikings shot better than 50-percent from the floor this year. The Vikings also hit 21-of-24 attempts at the free throw line and made 7-of-14 from 3-point range.

Green Bay 91, St. Francis (Ill.) 41
Using a 30-2 run to start the second half, Green Bay turned its final tune-up before Horizon League play begins into a rout, defeating St. Francis, 91-41, in non-conference men’s basketball action at the Resch Center.

Green Bay (9-3), winners of four-straight and six of its past seven games, opens Horizon League action on Thursday at 7 p.m., hosting Cleveland State.

Vincent Garrett made 8-of-11 shots and tallied career highs in points (20) and rebounds (9), leading four Phoenix players in double figures. Keifer Sykes was efficient in 26 minutes, totaling 17 points and eight assists without a turnover. Alec Brown and Carrington Love added 13 points as the Phoenix shot 56.7 percent from the field in the win.

Thanks to early 6-of-9 shooting from long range, the Fighting Saints trailed just 23-20 at the 8:42 mark of the first half. From that point on, the visitors would make just 1-of-15 three-pointers as Green Bay outscored them 68-21 for the rest of the afternoon.

Coming out of halftime with a 39-26 lead, the Phoenix scored the first 14 points and 30 of the first 32 to increase the margin to 74-30. During the run, Sykes had two dunks, junior Lamin Fulton (Philadelphia, Pa.) knocked down a pair of three-pointers and Garrett scored the final five points.

Including the 13 from Love, Green Bay’s bench totaled 37 points in the win. Turner Botz scored a career-high nine points, while Fulton and freshman Kenneth Lowe added six points each.

The Phoenix finished the game shooting 56.7 percent from the field (34-60) and 11-of-20 from long range. The 11 triples, which included three each from Garrett and Love and two apiece for Fulton and Botz, are a season high for Green Bay. The hosts handed out 21 assists and committed only nine turnovers.

Green Bay’s defense has also been a major factor during the Phoenix homestand, which also includes victories over Tennessee Tech and Fairfield. Including St. Francis shooting just 26.7 percent (16-60), the three opponents have combined to shoot only 28.3 percent from the field (51-180). Getting six from Brown, the Phoenix defense swatted 10 shots and forced 15 turnovers on Saturday.

#rv/rv Illinois 74, UIC 60
UIC dropped an in-state rivalry game to #rv/rv Illinois, 74-60, after leading the majority of the game at the United Center.

Senior Kelsey Barlow paced UIC (5-9) with 21 points, his fifth 20-plus point effort of the season, adding six assists and five rebounds to his stat line. UIC executed two 9-2 runs in the first half and led by as much as 13 points, taking a 44-34 advantage into the locker room.

The Flames rode Barlow in the first half as he netted 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Eighteen points serves as UIC’s highest first period scoring output by any player this season.  UIC shot 18-of-29 from the field, which stands as the second-best percentage in any half for UIC this season. The Flames also drilled all seven of their threes in first period, the most in any stanza for UIC this year.

UIC never trailed in the first half and held the lead for a total of 24 minutes and 24 seconds during the entirety of today’s contest.

Illinois began the second half on an 8-0 spurt to pull within two just over one minute into the period. The Illini finally jumped in front at the 12:49, their first lead of the game, on a Rayvonte Rice layup and remained in the driver’s seat for the rest of the game. Rice finished the contest with 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

The Flames did out-rebound Illinois, 33-32, but held a much wider margin at the break, 19-8. Jordan Harks led all rebounders with nine caroms.

Marc Brown chipped in 12 points, including two threes, for his eighth double-digit game of the season. Pat Birt scored all nine of his points in the first half.