Saturday and Sunday provided five more glimpses of Horizon League men's basketball teams ahead of the Nov. 8 start of the regular season, with all five League teams recording exhibition wins.
Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 2-3)
UIC 79, University of Chicago 57
Detroit 89, Concordia 50
Valparaiso 90, Robert Morris (Ill.) 82
Green Bay 82, Viterbo 39
Oakland 88, Lake Superior State 61
UIC 79, University of Chicago 57
At the UIC Pavilion, the Flames were ignited by a 16-3 run late in the first half that carried over into the early minutes of the second period. Three UIC players reached double figures as junior Marc Brown paced the team with a game-high 14 points.
"For the most part I am pleased with our performance today," said UIC Head Coach Howard Moore. "I told the guys before the game to just go out and play how we've been practicing. We play tough, physical, defensive-minded basketball and our upperclassmen set that tone. As a coach, you're never satisfied and there are a lot of things that we still need to work on, but I thought today was a good first step."
UIC controlled the paint from the early going, outscoring Chicago on the inside 20-8 in the first half and 38-18 for the game. Sophomore forward Jake Wiegand shot 5-of-7 from the field in the first period and totaled all 11 of his points before the break. Wiegand nearly collected a double-double as he corralled nine rebounds (six offensive) in just 22 minutes of action.
The Flames received solid contributions from the bench with 42 reserve points being led by freshman Markese McGuire. The Elkhart, Ind., native notched 13 points, including nine in the second half as he shot 4-of-6 from the floor. Senior Jordan Harks chipped in eight points in just 14 minutes, while senior Kelsey Barlow and junior Joey Miller both added six points apiece. Miller also dished out a game-high four assists.
Junior Ahman Fells was solid off the bench with eight rebounds, including three on the offensive end.
At the 4:18 mark in the second half, UIC held a 28-point lead (74-46), its largest of the game, after limiting the Maroons to a mere six points in previous nine minutes. During that stretch, the Flames outscored Chicago 22-6 to put the game out of reach.
UIC played under control offensively, committing only nine turnovers overall and just three in the first half. Conversely, on the defensive end, the Flames forced 17 turnovers to capitalize for 17 points.
Detroit 89, Concordia 50
Rolling for the second consecutive exhibition game, Detroit was led by junior forward Juwan Howard, Jr. who had 23 points, while senior Evan Bruinsma added 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists.
Sophomore guard Anton Wilson also scored in double figures as he finished with 13 points, six steals, four rebounds and two assists, while freshman guard Matthew Grant pitched in 11 points with four assists. Junior forward Patrick Onwenu had another productive game with nine points and eight rebounds, while Ugochukwu Njoku added eight points and six boards.
Concordia opened the game with a 6-2 run with a pair of three pointers over the first two minutes of action, before the Titans responded with a 14-5 run to take the lead 16-11, a lead they would never relinquish. The Cardinals would trim the score to 16-14 with 13:42 left in the first half, but that was as close as the score would get as Detroit closed the half with a 27-15 run to take a 43-29 lead into the locker room. Howard led the Titans with 15 points, while Bruinsma had 13 points, six assists and five rebounds.
The Titans opened the second half with a 22-6 run, which included an aggressive dunk from Njoku off a nice pass from Howard. Following a couple of three pointers from Concordia to trim the lead to 71-47 with 8:40 remaining, Detroit responded by closing the game an 18-3 run to make the final score 89-50.
Detroit shot 48.6 percent (33-of-68) overall, including 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from downtown, while holding Concordia to just 25.9 percent (15-of-58) overall. The Titans defense also forced 23 Cardinal turnovers and recorded 14 steals and four blocked shots, while dishing out 23 assists.
Valparaiso 90, Robert Morris (Ill.) 82
Facing an up-tempo style of play from Robert Morris (Ill.), the Valparaiso men's basketball team led nearly start-to-finish Saturday night at the ARC.
The Crusaders totaled 74 possessions in Saturday night's contest against the Eagles, who entered the game ranked sixth in the NAIA Division II national rankings, and still maintained a high level of offensive efficiency, averaging 1.22 points per possession. Valpo shot at a 53-percent clip from the field, including a 52.2-percent (12-of-23) mark from behind the 3-point line, and only turned the ball over 13 times. The Crusaders also grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and tallied 16 second-chance points.
Robert Morris led briefly on a trio of occasions early, but never by more than two points, and Valpo claimed the lead for good 2:33 into the game on a baseline drive and dunk by fifth-year senior Bobby Capobianco (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland [Indiana]). The Crusaders extended their lead into double digits less than nine minutes into the game on a 3-pointer by freshman Lexus Williams (Chicago, Ill./Marist), making it 25-15 Valpo.
Robert Morris rallied to within four at 34-30 with five minutes to play in the first half, but fifth-year senior Moussa Gueye gathered an offensive rebound and emphatically slammed it home to answer. Then, the next trip down the court, Gueye drove into the lane and executed a nifty spin move for another inside basket. A fast-break finish by freshman Clay Yeo would give the Crusaders an 11-point lead with under two minutes to go in the opening period, but a 3-pointer by the Eagles' Sean Montgomery made it a 41-33 game at the half.
Valpo maintained a lead in the high single digits for the most part through the first six minutes of the second half before the Eagles put together a spurt to close to within 57-55 with 13 minutes to play. The Crusaders responded with an 11-2 run over the next three-plus minutes, as freshman Alec Peters knocked down a triple, junior Vashil Fernandez tipped in a Valpo miss and Williams canned a pair of mid-range jumpers before Yeo capped the spurt with a fast-break layup off a feed from senior Jordan Coleman.
Robert Morris scored the next 10 points to close to within one point, and the lead was still just one with under six minutes before a pair of seniors stepped up from beyond the 3-point line. Coleman knocked down a triple to make it 74-70 Valpo off a pass from LaVonte Dority, and then following a basket by the Eagles, Dority canned back-to-back triples to make it an eight-point lead with under five minutes to play. Robert Morris cut the lead to 87-82 with 39 seconds to play before the Crusaders hit three of four free throws down the stretch to keep the Eagles at bay.
Dority led five Crusaders in double figures with 18 points, while Yeo scored 16 and Williams 14, both off the bench as they combined to shoot 13-of-17 from the floor. Gueye added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while Coleman chipped in 10 points. Coleman also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds for a double-double, and Fernandez came up with seven caroms. Coleman and Dority each tallied four assists, while Fernandez blocked three shots as the Crusaders totaled nine blocks as a team.
Robert Morris was led by a game-high 38 points from Kashaune McKinney, who went 13-of-21 from the field on Saturday, including a 7-of-14 mark from beyond the 3-point line. Cortney Bell added 12 points and Montgomery 11 in the losing effort.
Green Bay 82, Viterbo 39
Opening the game on an 11-0 run, Green Bay cruised in its lone exhibition game of the year. Sophomore Greg Mays scored 12 points to lead the Phoenix while senior Alec Brown added 10 points and 10 rebounds as four Phoenix players reached double figures.
Brown hit a fadeaway from 18 feet on the game’s first possession and added two more buckets during the game’s opening run. The 7-foot-1 All-League big man went 4-of-7 from the field in 20 minutes of play.
Midway through the opening half, Green Bay made nine-straight shots and opened up a 49-26 lead at halftime. Mays and Brown both had 10 points as the Phoenix shot 20-for-32 in the first half.
Green Bay came out strong again in the second half, opening up a 38-point lead with a 19-4 run coming out of the locker room. Newcomers accounted for 11 of the points during the run, with freshmen Kenneth Lowe and Tevin Findlay each scoring four points.
Findlay led the Phoenix newcomers with 10 points while senior transfer Vince Garrett tallied nine points and Lowe added eight points on 4-of-5 shooting. Junior Lamin Fulton knocked down a three-pointer and freshman Turner Botz added two points and nine rebounds.
The Phoenix finished the game 34-of-65 from the field while holding the V-Hawks to just 24.1 percent (14-58). Green Bay, which led the Horizon League in defensive field goal percentage and rebounding in 2012-13, owned a 57-25 edge on the glass.
Sophomore Jordan Fouse became the fourth Phoenix player in double figures with a monster one-handed dunk in the second half. Fouse finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Junior All-League point guard Keifer Sykes played just 17 minutes but added six points and four assists.
Oakland 88, Lake Superior State 61
Travis Bader scored a team-high 21 points and Corey Petros added 20 to lead the Oakland men's basketball team to an 88-61 exhibition win over Lake Superior State. The Golden Grizzlies outrebounded the Lakers 41-21.
Kahlil Felder and Duke Mondy each had 10 points to round out double-figure scorers for the Golden Grizzlies. Felder dished out a team-best seven assists and tallied two seals. Mondy finished with six assists and seven rebounds.
Oakland shot close to 60 percent in the game (32-55) and held the Lakers to just 40 percent (23-58). The Grizzlies' bench outscored LSSU's bench 21-6.
The Lakers' Derek Billing scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting. Cameron Metz was the only other LSSU player in double figures, tallying 11.
After a closely fought first half, 38-31, the Golden Grizzlies outscored the Lakers 50-30 in the final 20 minutes to win by 27 points, matching their largest lead of the game.
