CSU, UWM Open Tournaments with Victories

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 15)
Milwaukee 64, San Jose State 61
Cleveland State 83, Texas-Arlington 73
#--/rv California 64, Oakland 60

Milwaukee and Cleveland State both opened tournament play with victories on Friday night, while Oakland dropped its opener of the Maui Invitational at California.

Milwaukee 64, San Jose State 61
Jordan Aaron scored 16 points to lead four players in double figures as Milwaukee hung on for a 64-61 win over San Jose State Friday night in the first game of the NIU Invitational.

Milwaukee (2-1) led by 10 points with two minutes to play but had to weather a pair of three-point attempts in the final seconds by the Spartans to avoid overtime.

Austin Arians, who started in place of the injured Thierno Niang, added 14 points while Steve McWhorter and Matt Tiby pitched-in with 12 apiece.
Milwaukee again built a sturdy advantage at the line, making 19-of-30 free throws. Despite committing just 11 turnovers the Panthers could never quite put away the Spartans.

Rashad Muhammad had 17 points to lead four players in double figures for the Spartans (0-2).

There were many times it seemed Milwaukee might pull away. The Panthers built a 17-9 lead on a Kyle Kelm hoop with 8:35 remaining only to see San Jose State eventually tie the game at 22-apiece. UWM again restored a 32-26 lead in the opening minutes of the second half but eventually trailed 37-34 and 40-39.

Milwaukee took the lead for good, though, on a single Tiby free throw with 12 minutes left and eventually turned that into a 16-6 run that seemed to put the game away. That burst was capped by a pair of free throws by Arians, making it 59-49 with two minutes left.

But San Jose State wasn't done. The Spartans crawled to within 61-56 with 59.8 seconds remaining before Aaron answered with a pair of free throws with 40.6 seconds remaining. San Jose then got within 63-60 on a pair of Brandon Mitchell free throw with 14.1 remaining and Aaron answered with a single free throw with 10.2 seconds left.

That set the stage for a wild closing stretch, as Jalen James made his first free throw but missed his second before the Spartans got the offense rebound. That led to a pair of tries to tie the game from three-point range, but the second one missed as the horn sounded, allowing the Panthers to hang on.

Cleveland State 83, Texas-Arlington 73
After arriving in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in the early hours of Thursday morning, Cleveland State raced out to a double-digit lead and held off at late Texas-Arlington rally to claim an 83-73 victory at the College Park Center.

Cleveland State (2-1) was hampered by foul trouble throughout, but used 24 points from Bryn Forbes and 22 by Charlie Lee to claim the win. Both totals matched career highs.

Anton Grady battled foul trouble all night, playing just 13 minutes, but still finished with nine points and four rebounds. Jon Harris added eight points and five rebounds and Trey Lewis and Marlin Mason scored seven points each.

UTA’s Reger Dowell led all scorers with 25 points, while Brandon Edwards recorded a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

The first eight minutes were tight with two lead changes and three ties, the final one coming on an Edwards bucket in the paint to knot the contest at 12-12 with 12:50 to play in the first half. CSU answered with a 15-2 run to claim a 27-14 lead on a Mason three-pointer with just under eight minutes to play in the half.

CSU maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the half, taking a 43-28 lead after 20 minutes behind the duo of Lee and Forbes who combined for 25 first half points, including 15 from Lee.

A pair of free throws by Forbes pushed CSU's lead to 19 points (49-30) just two minutes into the second half, but the Mavericks whittled the lead down to seven points (56-49) with 11:03 left on the strength of a 19-7 run.

Harris stopped the run with a three-pointer from the corner and after two Dowell free throws, Mason converted a layup and Forbes hit a three-pointer to give CSU a 64-51 lead with 7:26 to play.

The Mavericks had one more run, cutting the CSU lead to six points three times in the final two minutes, the last time coming with 47 seconds left.
But Forbes hit two free throws and Sebastian Douglas had a steal on the other end and went coast to coast for a dunk to put the Vikings up 10 with 35 seconds left and ice the game.

The Vikings shot 48-percent from the floor, including 11-of-24 (.458) from three-points. The Mavericks, who came into the game averaging just over 95 points per game, shot just 21-of-64 (.328), but were aided by a 25-of-34 performance at the free throw line.

#--/rv California 64, Oakland 60
Opening the Maui Invitational, Oakland led throughout the second half before faltering late in a 64-60 loss to Cal at the Haas Pavilion.

Oakland (0-3) held a 56-53 lead with 4:10 to play after Travis Bader knocked down his fifth 3-pointer of the game.  However, Cal would tie the game on a conventional 3-point play from Richard Solomon, tying the game with 3:36 remaining.

Both teams would trade missed chances over the next two minutes before the Golden Bears capitalized, using a Jabari Bird 3-pointer to take their first lead since 5:38 remained in the first half.

Two free throws from Bird would extend Cal’s lead to five, and Oakland could draw no closer in the final minute.

Bader led Oakland with 21 points, going 5-of-11 from 3-point range and 8-of-19 overall. Now with 371 career 3-pointers, Bader is tied for 18th all-time with Brett Blizzard and Kyle Korver.

In his third collegiate game, Kahlil Felder finished with 13 points, while Corey Petros added 12 and Tommie McCune 11.

Bird led all scorers with 24 points.

Saturday will see four League teams in action, beginning with Wright State’s trip to DePaul to open the CBE Hall of Fame Classic at 2 p.m. ET (Fox Sports 1). UIC will host Eastern Illinois at 4 p.m. ET (HLN), while Milwaukee will play its second game of the NIU Invitational against James Madison at 6:30 p.m. ET. Green Bay will close the night in front of a sold out Resch Center at 8 p.m. ET, welcoming No. 21/19 Wisconsin (HLN, ESPN3).