#HLMBB Scoreboard (Feb. 15)
#rv/rv Valparaiso 62, Milwaukee 55
Cleveland State 67, UIC 59
Oakland 83, Detroit 78
Youngstown State 74, Wright State 69
Valparaiso 62, Milwaukee 55
The Valparaiso men’s basketball team shrugged off the fact it faced its first halftime deficit in six weeks Sunday afternoon at Milwaukee, shooting 65.2% in the second half to rally from the five-point margin at the break and down the Panthers 62-55. The win was the sixth straight for the Crusaders, who improved to 24-4 overall and maintained first place in the Horizon League standings at 11-2, and snapped Milwaukee’s five-game home winning streak.
Valpo struggled offensively in the first 20 minutes, shooting just 27.6% from the floor and scoring just seven points in the first 12-plus minutes of the game. The Crusaders started to heat up in the late stages of the half, scoring 13 points in a six-possession stretch.
The stretch was sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) and also included a triple from sophomore Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington). But Milwaukee scored 12 points over that same span to maintain its lead and extended its advantage to as many as eight points. Valpo would score the final three points of the half to close to within 28-23 at the break.
Trailing at halftime for the first time since the league opener January 2 at Oakland, the Crusaders faced an eight-point deficit early on in the second period, as Milwaukee’s JJ Panoske started the half with a 3-pointer. Following a jumper in the paint from junior E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]), Steve McWhorter answered with a layup late in the shot clock to make it 33-25 Milwaukee with 18:41 to play.
But the Valpo defense would limit Milwaukee to just 10 points over the next 14-plus minutes, and the offense would take control, out-scoring the Panthers 26-10 over that span. Walker started the run with a 3-pointer, and then freshman Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) made perhaps the play of the year by a Crusader. Tevonn Walker picked the pocket of Steve McWhorter in the frontcourt and started a two-on-one break himself. As he neared the basket, faced with the 6’10” Panoske in the lane, the 6’1” Walker went right at him, going over the Panther player for a one-handed slam to cut Milwaukee’s advantage to 33-30 with 16:24 remaining.
Three times over the next four minutes, Valpo would slice the Panthers’ lead to one point. The first two times, Milwaukee responded with baskets, but the third time saw Valpo force a miss and Nickerson split a pair at the foul line on the other end, tying the game at 40-40 with 12:14 to go – the first tie since the game was two minutes old. McWhorter knocked down a 3-pointer to give Milwaukee a three-point lead two minutes later, but those would be the Panthers’ last points for over five minutes.
Freshman David Skara (Zadar, Croatia/Ekonomska Skola Zadar) came up with a couple big plays to give Valpo the lead for good, drawing a foul and hitting two free throws before following with a steal on the defensive end and hitting junior Keith Carter (Maywood, Ill./Proviso East [Saint Louis]) on the fast break, making it 44-43 Crusaders. The two squads would go nearly three minutes before scoring again, until a triple from Peters with 5:53 to play extended the lead to four points. Peters then hit Skara for a fast-break jumper to push the edge to 49-43 at the 5:31 mark, inducing a Milwaukee timeout.
A foul-line jumper from Darien Walker on the next possession capped an 11-0 run to put Valpo ahead by eight points, but Milwaukee quickly sliced the lead back down to three points at the final media timeout. The Crusaders answered on the offensive end, however, as Tevonn Walker got free on the baseline for a driving layup to extend the lead to 53-48 with 3:19 to go.
Valpo forced empty possessions on each of the Panthers’ next two trips, and following the second stop, Nickerson banked in a deep jumper from the wing to make it 55-48 with 1:21 to play. Milwaukee came down and got a 3-pointer from McWhorter to cut the lead back down to four points immediately. But with the Panthers trying to foul to get the Crusaders in the bonus, Peters found Tevonn Walker over the top on an inbounds for an easy layup, and Milwaukee would get no closer than five points the rest of the way.
Darien Walker led the Crusaders on Sunday afternoon, finishing with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including a 3-of-4 mark from behind the arc. Peters added 15 points, including four 3-pointers, and eight rebounds, while Tevonn Walker scored 12 points, came up with four steals and handed out three assists. Carter returned to action for the Crusaders for the first time in nearly six weeks, playing 12 minutes and dishing out three assists.
Milwaukee (10-17, 5-8 Horizon) was led by 14 points each from McWhorter and Matt Tiby, the latter going 7-of-8 from the foul line and grabbing eight rebounds. Panoske scored 10 points as well in the losing effort, as the Crusaders limited Milwaukee to 40.4% shooting from the floor and forced 15 turnovers which turned into 21 Valpo points.
Cleveland State 67, UIC 59
Cleveland State reached double-digit league wins for the seventh time in eight years and moved into second place in the Horizon League with a 67-59 win over UIC on Sunday afternoon on Senior Day.
The Vikings improved to 16-11 overall and 10-3 in the league, one game behind first place Valparaiso (11-2) who won at Milwaukee today. Green Bay is one-half game behind CSU at 9-3.
UIC fell to 7-20 overall and 3-9 in the league.
Trey Lewis scored 18 points and had five rebounds to pace the Vikings, while Anton Grady had nine points, 13 rebounds and a career-high tying six blocked shots.
CSU's two seniors also stood out.
Charlie Lee totaled nine points and eight assists, while Marlin Mason had 11 points and three blocked shots.
The duo also hooked up for a highlight reel alley-oop late in the game with Lee finding Mason cutting on the baseline and Mason throwing down a one-handed dunk.
Ahman Fells and Paris Burns scored 17 points each for UIC.
The Vikings hit their first seven three-pointers of the game, the final one by Zollo that gave CSU a 23-18 lead 12 minutes into the game. However, a 12-3 UIC spurt gave the Flames a 30-26 lead with 4:04 to play and the Flames would hold a four point lead (34-30) at halftime.
CSU opened the second half on a 23-10 run to open up a double-digit lead (53-43) on a Lewis spinning layup in the paint.
The lead reached as many as 13 points (60-47) on o Mason dunk, but nine straight points from the Flames cut the CSU lead to four points (60-56) with 2:22 left.
However, Lee hit two free throws and Lee found Mason for the alley-oop dunk to push the lead back to eight points (64-56) with 1:33 to play and the Vikings would win to improve to 12-2 at home this year, including 7-0 in the league.
CSU finished 26-of-47 (.553) from the field and hit 8-of-15 (.533) from three-point. UIC was just 18-of-64 (.281) from the floor, but did hold a 41-30 advantage on the boards.
The Vikings finished with 11 blocked shots.
Oakland 83, Detroit 78
Kahlil Felder scored a game-high 29 points, sinking all 10 of his free throws, to help Oakland hold off the University of Detroit Mercy for an 83-78 win Sunday. The Golden Grizzlies win the first-ever Michigan Sports Hall of Fame Cup, and earn valuable points in the Metro Series rivalry.
Nick Daniels contributed 14 points and Corey Petros added 11 as Oakland (13-14, 8-4 Horizon League) shot 51.7 percent on 58 attempts from the field to snap a two-game skid and avenge a Jan. 10 loss to the Titans.
Detroit (12-16, 5-8) trailed by 15 late in the first half but battled back in the second, briefly taking the lead with a 12-0 run capped by Jarod Williams' tip-in to make it 67-64 with 6:16 left. Oakland retook the lead with a free throw from Tommie McCune, who followed it up with a bucket to make it 74-71 with 2:32 remaining and padded it down the stretch.
Paris Bass led Detroit with a career-high 28 points and Anton Wilson added 11.
The MSHOF Cup was awarded to the Golden Grizzlies following the game. The two teams split the basketball series, but Oakland was crowned the winner for having a higher NCAA RPI. Next year UDM will have to sweep the series to earn the cup.
Youngstown State 74, Wright State 69
Sophomore Marcus Keene scored 20 points with eight rebounds and senior Shawn Amiker scored all of his 13 points in the second half as the Youngstown State men's basketball team held on for a 74-69 win over Wright State on Sunday afternoon at the Nutter Center.
Keene just missed his first career double-double with eight rebounds and junior Bobby Hain scored 14 points with seven rebounds. Senior DJ Cole scored all nine of his points in the second half and became just the fifth player in school history to record 400 career assists. Cole had two assists against Raiders and has 401 for his career.
With the win, the Penguins improve to 11-17 overall and 2-11 in the Horizon League. The win also marks Head Coach Jerry Slocum's 699th career win. Wright State falls to 11-15 overall and 3-9 in the league.
Leading the Raiders was Grant Benzinger with 22 points and Michael Karena with 14 points.
The Penguins, who shot 56.9 percent from the field, led by as many as 10 points in the second half on two different occasions - 48-38 and 50-40 - before the Raiders made a charge.
Wright State went on a 14-6 run to get within two, 56-54, midway through the half. A jumper by Amiker, a dunk by Cole and a 3-pointer by Amiker stretched the Penguins' advantage to seven, 63-56, at the 7:27 mark.
The Raiders scored 13 of the next 18 points to take a 69-68 lead after a layup by Benzinger with 2:13 to go.
Amiker regained the lead for the Penguins with two free throws at the 1:57 mark and hit a jumper to push the lead to three, 72-69, with 37 seconds to go.
Junior Shaun Stewart sealed the victory with two more charity tosses with 14 seconds left.
The Raiders tied the game at 36-36 right after halftime, but the Penguins went on a 12-2 run to take a 10-point lead, 48-38, with 16:35 left.
Hain started the Penguins' with a layup and Keene extended the lead to five with a 3-pointer. Cole made a layup and a 3-pointer to give the Penguins their biggest lead of the game.
In the first half, the Penguins shot an impressive 59.3 percent and overcame an early seven-point deficit. The Penguins, though, hurt themselves with nine turnovers that lead to eight Raiders points. The Penguins also used their size to their advantage, scoring 20 points in the paint.
Benzinger scored seven of the Raiders' first 10 points, which spurred WSU to a 10-3 lead and a 12-5 edge with 16:52 left.
The Penguins went on a 10-2 run to take a 15-14 lead after Keene hit his second 3-pointer of the game. Youngstown State pushed its lead to 21-17 after a jumper by Osandai Vaughn and Hain at the 9:53 mark.
After four more ties, a dunk by Sidney Umude and a three-point play by Hain pushed the Penguins' lead to five, 34-29.
The teams traded baskets before Wright State's Mark Howell converted a 3-point play to cut the YSU lead to two, 36-34, at the intermission.
