#HLMBB Scoreboard (Jan. 20)
Green Bay 78, UIC 55
Milwaukee 67, Wright State 41
Valparaiso 77, Youngstown State 62
Green Bay 78, UIC 55
Chicago natives Greg Mays (Chicago, Ill.) and Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) combined for 39 points and Green Bay (16-4, 5-1) cruised in the second half to down visiting UIC (5-15, 1-4 HL) 78-55 on Tuesday evening at the Resch Center. The Phoenix improved to 9-0 at home 2014-15.
Mays attacked the rim early and often, making 10-of-15 shots from the field en route to 20 points. Two of the made field goals for the 6-foot-9 senior came via dunks, giving Mays an even 100 for his Phoenix career.
Sykes struggled at times from the field, but the Phoenix point guard finished with 19 points, nine assists to only one turnover, five rebounds and three steals. His season-high assist total moved him past Frank Nardi into fourth place on the all-time chart (474). The program’s all-time leader in free throws made connected on 11-of-13 on Tuesday to reach 500 for his career (509).
With the two teams tied at 8-8 early, Green Bay rattled off a 14-2 run to take a double-digit lead. The advantage reached as many as 18 in the opening period and the hosts’ lead was 41-29 at intermission.
Green Bay built its lead throughout the second half, and a 13-0 run increased the margin to 32 (76-44) with 3:30 to play.
The Phoenix shot 50.9 percent from the field while holding the Flames to only 36.5 percent shooting. UIC connected on only 1-of-10 three-pointers.
Milwaukee 67, Wright State 41
Freshman Justin Jordan scored a season-high 17 points and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (7-12, 2-3 Horizon) held visiting Wright State (10-10, 2-4) to 27.5 percent field-goal shooting en route to a 67-41 victory at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena tonight. The victory is the Panthers' second in a row and the 41 points allowed is the fewest scored against Milwaukee since January 12, 2012, when Wright State tallied 38 points.
"It was good to see Justin (Jordan) step up and take charge of the team when Steve picked up his fourth foul," Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter said. "The job we did defensively was impressive but we have been getting better every day in practice."
The Panthers, who have now won 16 of the last 17 meetings with Wright State in Milwaukee, scored 10 unanswered points early in the contest, the final three coming courtesy of an Akeem Springs three-pointer, to turn a two-point deficit into a 14-6 lead. Milwaukee smothered the Raiders in the opening 20 minutes, limiting them to a paltry 23 percent (6-for-23) shooting from the field.
The aforementioned 10 straight Milwaukee points were part of a half-closing 30-9 spurt that sent the hosts into the locker room with a 34-15 advantage, their largest lead at the intermission this season.
Springs helped spark Milwaukee's dominant first period by nearly recording a double-double with nine points and nine boards, while Steve McWhorter added eight first-half points and J.J. Panoske collected eight rebounds and a pair of blocks.
Back-to-back threes from Grant Evans and Reggie Arceneaux sliced Milwaukee's lead to 34-21 at the outset of the second half, but the Panthers countered with a 16-4 run to build the lead to 50-25 and never looked back. Jordan scored the final nine points in that 16-4 surge.
Milwaukee dominated the boards to the tune of a sizable 47-19 advantage, and the Panthers shot 55 percent (11-for-20) from the field in the second half. Over its last two contests, both wins, Milwaukee is shooting a whopping 63 percent (25-for-40) from the field in the second half. The .275 field goal percentage Milwaukee limited Wright State to is the lowest it has allowed this season.Jordan finished the night by hitting 6 of 7 shots from the field, while adding four rebounds and three assists. Matt Tiby scored 12 points to reach double digits for the 10th consecutive contest, while McWhorter added 10 points.
Michael Karena scored 11 points to lead Wright State.
Valparaiso 77, Youngstown State 62
The Valparaiso men’s basketball team continued its impressive run of form, improving to 18-3 on the year and moving into a tie atop the Horizon League standings with a 77-62 victory at Youngstown State on Tuesday evening.
The Crusaders earned the victory with strong defense and impressive shooting from beyond the 3-point line. The defense was as good as it has been during Valpo’s most recent five-game winning streak, limiting Youngstown State to just 35.7% shooting from the field and just a 6-of-20 (30%) effort from 3-point range. The Crusaders’ opponents have all shot worse than 38% from the floor during this winning streak.
Meanwhile, after shooting just 28% from 3-point range over the last six games, Valpo exploded from downtown on Tuesday night. The Crusaders hit 6-of-9 from deep in the first half to get it started and finished the game hitting at a 62.5% (10-of-16) clip from downtown. Five different players hit triples for Valpo in the win, led by three 3-pointers each from sophomore Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) and freshman Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) – the latter knocking down all three of his attempts from deep.
Valpo scored the game’s first six points Tuesday, but found itself trailing 8-6 after eight straight from the Penguins. YSU’s last lead would come five minutes into the game at 9-8, as sophomore Jubril Adekoya (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) knocked down shots from in close on each of the Crusaders’ next two possessions to give Valpo the lead for good. Peters followed with a 3-pointer to extend Valpo’s edge to 15-9.
YSU rallied back to within one point, but again the sophomore duo responded, scoring the next seven points to make it a 22-14 Crusader lead. The Penguins scored four straight to close within four, but that was as close as they would be the rest of the way, as Valpo’s 3-point barrage started.Over a four-minute span, juniors Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) and E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]) joined the freshman duo of Tevonn Walker and Max Joseph (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) in hitting 3-pointers. Joseph’s triple gave Valpo its largest lead of the first half at 11 points, and the Crusaders would eventually take a 34-25 advantage into the locker room.
Valpo quickly pushed the lead to 12 points out of the halftime break, as a triple by Tevonn Walker made it 39-27 with 18:40 to play. But the Penguins would not go away, closing back to within single digits and getting as close as six points. A putback by YSU’s Marcus Keene brought the Penguins within 47-39 with 13:05 remaining.
But the Crusaders put together one more big run to put away any doubt. Tevonn Walker started the run with a step-over 3-pointer, and then took advantage of a second-chance possession with a driving layup two trips later. Peters hit a pair of free throws the next time down the court, and then freshman David Skara (Zadar, Croatia/Ekonomska Skola Zadar) drove all the way to the basket for a layup of his own to make it a 17-point lead.
The Penguins coughed the ball up on their next possession on an inbounds pass, allowing Darien Walker an easy steal and fast-break basket. After a YSU miss, the Crusaders ran a bit of clock before Joseph hit Peters for a bucket in the paint, capping a 13-0 run over a span of just over four minutes to push the lead to 60-39 with 8:51 to play. The Penguins would get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
Peters led a balanced Valpo effort on the offensive end with 18 points in the win and added six rebounds and three assists. Adekoya was nearly perfect from the floor, going 7-of-8 for a career-best 14 points in just 19 minutes off the bench. Tevonn Walker scored 13 and pulled down five rebounds, while Darien Walker tallied 12 points and three assists. Senior Vashil Fernandez (Kingston, Jamaica/Princeton Day [Md.] Academy) added eight points and three blocked shots.
Youngstown State (9-13, 0-7 Horizon) was led by 17 points from Osandai Vaughn, one of four Penguins in double figures. Shawn Amiker added 12 points and six rebounds in the losing effort.
