Four Become Three After Detroit, Wright State Wins

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 12)
Detroit 77, Green Bay 74
Wright State 70, Milwaukee 46

After wins by Butler and Youngstown State on Saturday, the pressure was on Detroit and Milwaukee to keep pace in the race for third place in the Horizon League. At the end of Sunday, it was just the Titans who were able to keep up, while the Panthers were left a game out of the three-way tie for third.

Detroit 77, Green Bay 74
For the second straight game, Detroit was forced to play comeback in the second half, with Chase Simon putting the Titans on his back in a 77-74 win over Green Bay at Calihan Hall.

In overcoming a 12-point second half deficit, Detroit (15-12, 9-6 Horizon) moved into a third-place tie with Butler and Youngstown State in the Horizon League. Over its last three wins, the Titans have won by four, one and three points.

Green Bay (10-14, 6-8 Horizon) fell in its effort to record a 2-0 weekend road trip in conference play since 2005. The loss sent the Phoenix back into eighth place in the conference.

Taking a seven-point lead into the half, the Phoenix built upon its advantage in the first part of second, building a 12-point lead just three minutes into the second half after scoring the first five points of the stanza. Detroit’s first points would come on a Jason Calliste three, but triples from Kam Cerroni and Brennan Cougill helped Green Bay hold on to a 51-40 lead with 13:25 left.

From there, Detroit scored 17 of the next 21 points to wipe out its deficit, with Simon leading the way. Just as they did in their first meeting, the teams would trade the lead eight times over the next 4:17 until seven straight Detroit points from LaMarcus Lowe sparked a quick 11-3 run that gave the Titans the lead for good.

However, Green Bay did not go quietly, with Cerroni nailing two threes in just 10 seconds to trim the advantage to three with :40 remaining.  Two missed free throws gave the Phoenix the opening they needed to try and tie the game, but Cougill’s miss from distance was sandwiched around two Cerroni errant tries, with the last heave catching the back of the rim, then front, before coming off.

Simon had 18 of his 24 points in the second half and was 5-of-7 from the floor in the final frame. It was his seventh 20-point game of the season, but his first since Dec. 8. It couldn't have come at a better time for the Titans, who shot just 35.7 percent from the floor in the opening period and were searching for a flow offensively.

Ray McCallum had six assists with no turnovers to go along with 15 points and four steals.  Lowe finished with 13 points and a pair of blocks.

UWGB had five players in double figures led by freshman Keifer Sykes' 14.  Alec Brown added 13 with Cerroni finishing with 12 points. Cougill and Steve Baker each chipped in 11.

Wright State 70, Milwaukee 46
Up seven points at the half, Wright State shot a blistering 68-percent in the final 20 minutes, coasting to a 70-46 win over Milwaukee at the Nutter Center.

Wright State (12-15, 7-8 (Horizon) snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory and jumped Green Bay into seventh place on the League ladder. The Raiders limited Milwaukee (15-12, 8-7 Horizon) to just 32 percent shooting on the night as the Panthers fell to sixth place in the standings, one full game behind Detroit, Butler and Youngstown State.

Down 7-5 early, the Raiders responded with a 13-1 run, eight by Cole Darling, to go ahead 18-8 with 7:32 remaining in the first half. The margin was still 10 until a last-second three from Kaylon Williams made it 29-22 at the half.

Any momentum Milwaukee carried into the locker room was quickly erased as they came back onto the court, as a 12-1 Wright State burst blew the game open, with Vance Hall tallying the final five. Down 41-23 with just over 15 minutes left, the Panthers would get no closer than 16 the rest of the way.

Wright State hit 15 of 22 shots, including all five three-point attempts, in the second half to finish at 57 percent overall while the Panthers shot 41 percent the final 20 minutes to end up at 32 percent. WSU also made 15 of 17 foul shots compared to 12 of 21 for Milwaukee.

Darling led the way for the Raiders with a career-high 21 points off the bench, bettering the 13 he scored at Miami on Dec. 10 of this season and against Cleveland State last Feb. 16.  He also tied a career-best with nine rebounds.

Three other WSU players scored in double figures as Reggie Arceneaux had 14, Hall tying a career-high with 13 and Julius Mays adding 12.

Tony Meierand Shaquille Boga each had 10 points to pace Milwaukee.