#HLMBB Scoreboard (Jan. 8)
Cleveland State 65, Oakland 61
Valparaiso 85, UIC 56
Wright State 70, Youngstown State 61
Cleveland State 65, Oakland 61
Cleveland State won its third straight Horizon League contest as Andre Yates scored 14 second half points to help the Vikings to a 65-61 win over Oakland on Thursday night in the Wolstein Center.
The Vikings improved to 9-8 overall and 3-0 in the league. It is CSU's best start in league play since 2010-11 when CSU started 4-0.
Oakland fell to 5-11 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Yates, who played just four minutes in the first half after picking up two quick fouls, hit 6-of-13 from the field for his 14 points. Charlie Lee added 13 points and seven assists, while Marlin Mason scored 11 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
Demonte Flannigan chipped in eight points and four rebounds off the bench, while Terrell Hales finished with nine points, four rebounds and two steals.
Oakland's Dante Williams led all scorers with 15 points.
CSU used a stifling defense and hot shooting from the floor to race out to a 19-2 lead eight minutes into the game. The Vikings, who scored the first 12 points of the game, made eight straight field goals at one point, the final coming on a Vinny Zollo three-pointer that gave CSU its largest lead of the half (24-8) with 9:30 left.
Oakland, who missed its first eight shots of the game, finished the half by making nine of its last 12 to pull within four (34-30) at the intermission. The Golden Grizzlies took a brief 28-27 lead with three minutes left in the half, but CSU scored seven of the final nine points of the half, including five by Lee to take the halftime lead.
The Vikings opened up an eight point lead (41-33) early in the second, but five straight by Oakland brought them back within three (41-38). Yates took over from there, scoring eight points as part of a 10-2 run that helped the Vikings open up an 11 point lead (51-40) with just over 14 minutes to play.
The CSU lead was still 12 points (59-47) with seven minutes left, but Oakland began to chip away at its deficit, hitting three three-pointers as part of a 14-4 run to pull within two points (63-61) with 2:15 left.
Neither team would score until Hales scored on a breakaway layup with 10 seconds left after a trio of Vikings combined to block Kahlil Felder's shot in the lane, giving CSU a 65-61 lead. Felder missed a three-pointer on the other end and CSU ran out the clock to preserve the win.
CSU won the rebounding battle, 31-29, and committed just seven turnovers.
Valparaiso 85, UIC 56
Valparaiso enjoyed one of its most efficient offensive performances of the season at the ARC Thursday evening in cruising to an 85-56 win in Horizon League action over UIC.
Despite playing without the services of normal starting point guard Keith Carter (Maywood, Ill./Proviso East [Saint Louis]) due to injury on Thursday, the Crusader offense didn’t miss a beat. Valpo connected at a season-best 60.4% clip (32-of-53) from the field and registered 14 assists while committing just eight turnovers – its fifth single-digit effort of the year in the turnover column. The Crusaders took advantage of UIC time and again down low, out-scoring the Flames in the paint 50-14.
Thursday’s win was the epitome of a total team effort, as all nine Crusaders who dressed scored at least four points, with five finishing in double figures. Leading the way was senior Vashil Fernandez (Kingston, Jamaica/Princeton Day [Md.] Academy), who posted a career-high 15 points as he hit all six of his field goal attempts. Fernandez also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots in the winning effort.
Junior Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) finished with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting and added four rebounds, while sophomore Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) and freshman Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) each hit better than half of their field goal attempts for 11 points apiece. Peters grabbed six rebounds as well. Rounding out the quintet in double figures was a 10-point effort off the bench by sophomore Jubril Adekoya (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew), who went 4-of-5 from the floor and tallied a game-high nine rebounds.
Redshirt junior E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]) earned his first career start in a Crusader uniform and chipped in seven points, three rebounds and two assists in just 18 minutes of action. Meanwhile, freshman Max Joseph (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) took advantage of his expanded role Thursday, playing a season-high 26 minutes, scoring a season-best nine points on 3-of-3 shooting - including a pair of 3-pointers – and handing out three assists.
Both teams started out hot from the floor, with UIC gaining an early 12-8 edge just over four minutes into the game on a 3-pointer from Jay Harris. Valpo scored the next seven points, however, to take the lead for good, as Nickerson started the spurt with a layup and Peters completed an old-fashioned 3-point play on the fast break. Three times, UIC would close to within one point as the first half approached the midway point, but each time, the Crusaders answered with a bucket of their own, twice on inside baskets from Peters and the last on a triple by Joseph.The lead remained around single digits for much of the rest of the first half, as a jumper from Harris brought the Flames within 33-26 with 5:29 to play in the period. But Valpo would end the half on a 14-6 run to take a 47-32 lead into the locker room. Fernandez had three inside baskets during the half-closing spurt, including a monster two-handed jam after grabbing an offensive board, while Peters closed the half by going coast-to-coast after grabbing an offensive rebound in the final seconds.
The Crusaders put the game away right from the onset of the second half, out-scoring the Flames 19-9 over the first eight minutes of the period as three 3-pointers were UIC’s only offense during that stretch. Darien Walker had six points during that span, while Tevonn Walker added five points and Fernandez capped it with a baseline sky hook to set a new career best. Valpo would continue to pull away from there, going ahead by 30 for the first time on Adekoya’s first 3-pointer of the season with 8:02 to play.
UIC (5-13, 1-2 Horizon) was led by 13 points from Ahman Fells, including three 3-pointers. Harris, making his return to the ARC after spending his first two collegiate seasons as a Crusader, finished with eight points in 22 minutes of action. The Flames finished the game at just 32.8% from the field, including just 8-of-28 from downtown.
Wright State 70, Youngstown State 61
Down nine at the break, the Wright State men's basketball team dominated Youngstown State 45-27 in the second half to defeat the Penguins 70-61 in Horizon League action Thursday night at the Beeghly Center.
The Raiders led 10-7 early before YSU went on a 17-2 run to go up 24-12 with eight minutes remaining in the first half. A JT Yoho tip-in cut the deficit to 28-23 at the 1:59 mark, only to see the Penguins score six of the final eight points of the period to take a 34-25 lead into the halftime break.
WSU shot 44 percent from the field in the first half compared to 41 percent for Youngstown State, but YSU hit four of eight three-pointers and went six of nine at the foul line while Wright State was two of eight from behind the arc and one of three at the line.
The Penguins extended their advantage to 11 twice in the early stages of the second half before the Raiders went on a 16-3 run, capped off by a Grant Benzinger three, to retake the lead at 43-41 with 12:18 to play.
Youngstown State tied the game with a pair of foul shots, only to see WSU go in front to stay with eight straight points, half of those coming from Chrishawn Hopkins. A later 13-2 burst broke the game open as Wright State went up 68-50 with 2:30 remaining.
The Raiders scorched the nets in the second half, hitting 13 of 18 shots for 72 percent, including four of seven from three-point range, and hit 15 of 21 foul shots. Wright State led 30-16 in points in the paint and 13-6 in points off of turnovers.
The Penguins, meanwhile, shot just 26 percent from the field after halftime to finish at 34 percent overall.
Four WSU starters scored in double figures as Yoho had 19 points, 15 in the second half, and nearly had a double-double with nine rebounds. Michael Karena had 15 points, Hopkins 13, all but two coming after halftime, and Reggie Arceneaux chipped in 10.
Marcus Keene paced Youngstown State (9-9, 0-3 Horizon) with 17 points while Shaun Stewart had 13 off the bench and DJ Cole added 11.
Tags: Cleveland State - Men's Basketball · Horizon League - Men's Basketball · Valparaiso - Men's Basketball · Wright State - Men's Basketball
