Five #HLMBB Teams Grab Saturday Victories

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 23)
Valparaiso 81, James Madison 49
Cleveland State 87, Robert Morris 74
Milwaukee 70, Tennessee Tech 63
Youngstown State 108, Westminster (Pa.) 57
Green Bay 92, Minnesota Duluth 57
South Alabama 74, Wright State 70 (CBE Classic)
Toledo 80, Detroit 78 (2k Sports Classic)
Louisiana 84, Oakland 75 (Maui Invitational – Mainland)

Five Horizon League teams collected wins on Saturday, while a few breaks could have led to an unbeaten day across the conference. In Green Bay, Alec Brown put forth a historic effort as the Phoenix rolled.

Valparaiso 81, James Madison 49
Valparaiso surrendered just four points to James Madison over the final 12:22 of the first half Saturday afternoon in non-league action at the ARC, turning a six-point deficit into a 13-point halftime lead en route to an 81-49 victory over the Dukes.

The win was the largest for the Crusaders over a Division I opponent since an identical 81-49 win over Toledo on Dec. 12, 2009. It came thanks to stellar efforts on both sides of the ball, as Valpo shot a solid 58 percent from the field and was 9-of-20 beyond the 3-point line. Defensively, the Crusaders held James Madison to 38.1 percent shooting (16-of-42) and limited the Dukes to just two 3-pointers.

Fielding a new starting lineup for the first time this season, as freshmen Jubril Adekoya and Lexus Williams joined the starting group for the first time, Valpo held a slim 8-7 lead three and a half minutes into the ballgame. But James Madison went on an 11-4 spurt over the next four minutes, taking an 18-12 lead as it threatened to put Valpo down double figures early for the fourth consecutive game.

The Crusaders locked down from there, however, giving up just four points in a 23-4 run to close the first half. Over that stretch of 12:22, Valpo limited James Madison to just 1-of-10 shooting from the floor and also forced ten turnovers from the Dukes. Jordan Coleman jump-started the run with five straight points, including a fast-break dunk, and fellow senior LaVonte Dority gave Valpo the lead for good with a 3-pointer with 9:40 to play in the half.

The senior combo combined for 13 consecutive points to push the lead out to 26-18, and then when the Dukes scored the next four to close to within four points, Adekoya answered with four straight to kick off a 9-0 spurt to close the half. Alec Peters converted an old-fashioned 3-point play with 50 seconds to play in the period, and Moussa Gueye capped the half with a putback just before the buzzer as Valpo went into the locker room leading 35-22.

The Crusaders put the game away with a 13-2 run over the opening four minutes of the second half. Four different Crusaders scored during that run, including six points from Dority, as Valpo extended its lead to 24 points at 48-24 with 15:27 to play. The lead would not fall under 19 points the rest of the way, and the Crusaders pushed it out to as much as a 34-point game late.

It was a balanced winning effort for the Crusaders, which finished the day with four players in double figures in the scoring column. Coleman led the way with 16 points off the bench, missing just one of his seven field goal attempts while also handing out four assists. Dority went 5-of-7 from the floor for 15 points and dished out five assists, while Peters matched Dority with 15 points. In his first career start, Williams also went 5-of-7 from the floor, scoring 12 points and picking up four steals defensively. Gueye led all players with 11 rebounds as the Crusaders enjoyed a 32-17 advantage on the glass over the Dukes.

James Madison (2-4) was led by 14 points apiece from Taylor Bessick and Charles Cooke, the latter also picking up four steals.  Jackson Kent added 11 points as well in the losing effort.

Cleveland State 87, Robert Morris 87
Cleveland State had six players in double figures and shot 51 percent from the field to claim an 87-74 victory over Robert Morris at the Wolstein Center as part of the Keightley Classic.

Cleveland State (3-2) stayed perfect at home and moved to 2-1 in the Keightly Classic. The Vikings will conclude the event at No. 4/5 Kentucky on Monday.
Bryn Forbes scored a game-high 18 points, including an 8-for-9 effort at the free throw line. He knocked down his first eight free tosses, extending his consecutive make streak to 28 to open the season.

Charlie Lee added 17 points and four assists, while Anton Grady finished with 13 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks. Jon Harris chipped in 11 points and seven rebounds off the bench and Sebastian Douglas tallied 10 points and five rebounds.

Jeremiah Worthem led the Colonials with 16 points off the bench.

The Colonials jumped out to a quick 14-4 lead less than six minutes into the contest thanks to a 6-of-9 effort from the field early on. Forbes hit a three-pointer, but RMU answered with a three on the other end to regain a 10 point advantage, 17-7, at the 13:50 mark.

But two Grady free throws and a three-pointer by Forbes ignited a 15-1 CSU run as the Vikings gained a four-point lead, 22-18, on a Sebastian Douglas bucket with eight minutes in the half.

The Vikings extended the lead to as many as nine points, 33-24, on a Grady layup with just under two minutes left in the half.

However, the Colonials answered with five straight points to close the halftime gap to 33-29.

Douglas opened the second half with a three-point play and Lee followed with a three-pointer to extend the CSU lead to 10, 39-29, less than a minute into the second half. A Lee three-pointer with 14:17 left gave the Vikings their biggest lead of the night, 53-35, but the Colonials began to claw back, cutting the deficit to five, 59-54, with eight minutes left.

The lead was 61-56 with 7:33 to play, but Lee made a layup, hit a pair of free throws and Grady converted a three-point play to push the CSU advantage back to 12, 68-56, with 6:13 left and RMU would not threaten the rest of the night.

The Vikings shot 23-of-45 from the field and were aided by a 34-of-44 performance at the free throw line.

RMU was 23-of-58 from the field and 23-of-33 at the charity stripe. The Colonials held a slim 33-32 advantage on the glass.

Milwaukee 70, Tennessee Tech 63
Three Panthers scored in double figures and Milwaukee made its free throws late to claim a 70-63 over Tennessee Tech at the Eblen Center.

Milwaukee scored the first seven points of the second half to erase a four-point halftime deficit in claiming its fifth win away from home of the young season.
Austin Arians led the way for Milwaukee with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Matt Tiby had 14 points and Kyle Kelm also scored 14, also with 12 of those coming after the break.

Mitch Roelke made four free throws in the final seconds to help secure the win.

Dwan Caldwell had 13 and Ty Allen had 12 in the losing effort for the Golden Eagles (3-4) who dropped their first home contest of the season.

UWM held TTU to just 31.1 percent shooting from the field and just 2-for-17 shooting (11.8 percent) from behind the arc.

Milwaukee built a 10-point lead late in the contest after a jump hook by Arians in the point made it 55-45 UWM. The sophomore hit back-to-back threes push the lead to seven before his work inside the arc. A free throw by Kelm less than two minutes later stretched the lead to 62-50.

The Golden Eagles would not make it easy for the Panthers though, clawing back to within three with 1:57 to play after a Jeremiah Samarrippas layup made it 62-59.

The Panthers netted the first seven points of the second half to erase a four-point deficit at the break. A pair of free throws from Arians and a layup by Kelm brought the game level at 28 apiece before a Tiby free throw gave the Panthers a one-point cushion. Then, Arians intercepted a pass a drove the length of the court for a one-handed slam build the lead to 31-28.

After scoring the first four points of the game, the Golden Eagles jumped back to grab a three-point edge at the 15:02 mark, claiming a 7-4 lead. Milwaukee answered right back though with a Kelm layup followed by an Arians three-pointer to reclaim the lead, 9-7, less than one minute later.

Green Bay 92, Minnesota Duluth 57
Alec Brown posted the first triple-double in the Horizon League in over two years as Green Bay coasted past Minnesota Duluth, 92-57, at the Resch Center.

Green Bay (2-1) never trailed in the game, as Brown became the first player in Horizon League history to post a point-rebound-block triple-double.

Brown’s block total was the second-highest in program history behind his school record set on Jan. 14, 2012 on Wright State. Green Bay’s 13 blocks on Saturday were also the second most in program history behind the 14 team blocks that the Phoenix had in the same game against Wright State. The Phoenix has blocked 31 blocks in three games this season.

Javier Mendiburu had the first two triple-doubles in program history, with the last coming Feb. 5, 2005 at Youngstown State. Brown becomes the first Horizon League player to record a triple-double including blocked shots.

Keifer Sykes scored the first nine points of the game en route to a game-high 21 points. The point guard finished 8-of-9 from the field with three dunks.

Sykes is averaging 21 points per game through three contests and is now 63 points shy of 1,000 for his career.

With Brown and Greg Mays each grabbing 10 rebounds and Jordan Fouse collecting nine, Green Bay held a 47-36 advantage on the glass. The Phoenix shot 59.3 percent from the field for the game (32-for-54), including 66.7 percent (16-for-24) in the first half as Green Bay took a 47-25 lead into the break.

Helped by the 13 blocks, the Green Bay defense held the Bulldogs to just 27.9 percent shooting from the field (19-for-68).

Youngstown State 108, Westminster (Pa.) 57
Despite an early tip-off, Youngstown State cruised to a 108-57 win over visiting Westminster at the Beeghly Center.

Youngstown State (6-1) went over the 100-point barrier for the second time this season, putting five players into double figures.

Bobby Hain led the Penguins with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting, coming within a rebound of his third double-double on the year. Marcus Keene came off the bench to finish with 15, while Kendrick Perry had 13 points on the strength of a 7-for-7 effort at the free-throw line.

Jalon Plummer posted 11, while Shawn Amiker added 10.

Youngstown State dominated the glass, outrebounding Westminster, 66-20. The total set a new program record and came within one of the Horizon League record, set by Xavier on Jan. 2, 1990, against Loyola Marymount.

The Penguins left no doubt as to the result from the opening tip, racing out to a 24-5 lead and not allowing the Titans within 20 points over the final 32 minutes of the game.

No Penguin played more than 20 minutes, and 13 of the 14 YSU players to appear in the game finished with a point.

South Alabama 74, Wright State 70
Wright State rallied from a 12-point first-half deficit to within one in the second half, only to fall short as South Alabama held on for a 74-70 decision in the final game of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic Saturday in Mobile, Ala.

Wright State (3-3) had four separate chances to tie or take the lead in the final four minutes of play, but could not get over the hump.

Cole Darling tied the game at 16 with a tip-in at the 10:23 mark of the first half, only to see the Jaguars follow with a 14-4 run over the next five minutes, the first eight of those points coming from Augustine Rubit.  A Miles Dixon layup made it 30-25 with three minutes to play in the period before threes from T.J. Johnson and Barrington Stevens helped extend the lead to 39-31 at the break.

South Alabama (3-2) scorched the nets in the opening 20 minutes, hitting 14-of-21 shots overall, including seven of 13 from three-point range, while WSU shot 43 percent.

The Raiders gradually chipped away at the deficit and closed to within one at 55-54 as AJ Pacher completed a three-point play with 7:07 remaining.  Ken Williams, however, answered with a three on the next possession and despite Wright State trimming the margin to two on four different occasions down the stretch, the Jaguars hung on the lead.

WSU shot 50 percent in the second half to end up at 46 percent overall while USA shot 38 percent to finish at 51 percent for the game.  The Jaguars were also 18 of 24 at the foul line compared to 12 of 18 for the Raiders.  Wright State led 38-20 in points in the paint and 17-12 in points off of turnovers.

Pacher led the Raiders with 18 points while Darling and Dixon each had 11.  Kendall Griffin had eight points and seven rebounds and Reggie Arceneaux added eight points off the bench.

Rubit paced South Alabama with a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds while Williams and Stevens each had 13.

Toledo 80, Detroit 78
Julius Brown’s 3-point play with 4.8 seconds remaining lifted Toledto past Detroit, 80-78, at Calihan Hall as part of the 2K Sports Classic benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project.

Detroit (3-3) led by as much as 19 in the second half, before the Rockets battled back to tie the score 77-77 with 37 seconds left.

Juwan Howard Jr., who scored a game-high 23 points, made one of two free throws with 16 seconds left to put the Titans up 78-77, before Brown drove right, stopped at the elbow, spun and leaned in for the go-ahead basket, giving Toledo its first lead since 4-2 in the first half.

The Titans had a chance to win it at the buzzer but Howard's 3-pointer from the corner was no good after hitting the back of the rim.

Sophomore guards Anton Wilson and Carlton Brundidge poured in 16 and 10 points, respectively.

Toledo (5-0) opened the game with an early 4-2 run, before the Titans responded with 14-4 run, including four-straight three-pointer from Brundidge, Howard, Wilson and Grant, to build a 16-8 lead with 12:36 left. The Rockets then responded with back-to-back buckets for Matt Smith to trim the lead to 16-12, but that was as close as the score would get in the first half as Detroit closed it with a 30-22 run to take a 46-34 lead into the locker room. Wilson led Detroit in the first half with 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting, including 4-of-4 from downtown, while both Grant and Howard had seven points.

Detroit picked up right where it left off in the first half with a 14-7 run to start the second stanza to build its largest lead of the game, 60-41, with 14:27 left. The Titans would then keep the lead in double figures for the next eight minutes until a pair of free throws from J.D. Weatherspoon trimmed the lead to 69-60 with 6:02 remaining. Detroit responded with a basket from Howard with 4:23 left to keep the lead around 10, but that ended up being the last made basket for the Titans as Toledo closed the game with a 16-5 run in the final four minutes to stay perfect on the season.

Detroit shot 45.3 percent (24-of-53) overall, including 45 percent (9-of-20) from downtown, while Toledo shot 44.8 percent (30-of-67) overall, including 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from beyond the arc. Both teams finished with 36 rebounds, but the Rockets ended up with six more on the offensive glass 16-10, while also forcing 14 Titan turnovers – 10 in the second half – compared to just nine themselves. Detroit did finish with 15 assists, six steals and six blocked shots compared to just 12 assists, four steals and one block for Toledo.

Louisiana 84, Oakland 75
Travis Bader scored 19 points and Corey Petros posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead Oakland in an 84-75 loss to Louisiana in the mainland portion of the Maui Invitational inside the HTC Center.

Oakland (0-5) was outscored 25-11 from the free-throw line.

Elfrid Payton and Shawn Long led the way for the Ragin' Cajuns. Payton finished with a game-high 32 points, adding seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. Long tallied a double-double with 24 points and a game-high 17 rebounds. Payton went 14-for-21 from the free-throw line, five more attempts than the entire OU team.

It seemed like OU was on cruise control in the second half. The Golden Grizzlies took A 12-point lead, 61-49, with just over 11 minutes remaining in the game. Then the Ragin' Cajuns held the Grizzlies to just one basket over the next three minutes to tie the game at 63 (8:04).

Oakland would manage just two field goals over the next six minutes as ULL built a double-digit lead with one minute remaining. The Ragin' Cajuns outscored the Golden Grizzlies 35-14 over the final 11 minutes of the game.