Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 26)
Green Bay 59, Florida Gulf Coast 45
Youngstown State 66, UMKC 63
#6/5 Louisville 45, Cleveland State 33
Georgia State 83, Oakland 78
Oral Roberts 69, Milwaukee 66
Green Bay 59, Florida Gulf Coast 45
Jumping out of the gates with a 15-0 lead and holding Florida Gulf Coast (5-1) to just 27.3 percent shooting from the field, Green Bay (4-1) led wire-to-wire on Wednesday night and posted a 59-45 victory in the championship game of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Germain Arena.
Green Bay was the home team on the scoreboard in the neutral site event, but the Phoenix played in a hostile environment just three miles from Florida Gulf Coast’s campus. From the opening tip-off, that didn’t matter for head coach Brian Wardle’s team.
“I could tell all day long that we had a bounce in our step and were ready to go,” Wardle said. “I told the team before the game, ‘we’ve been tested already. Now let’s go out there and throw the first punch.’”
Senior Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) scored the game’s first basket to fuel the 15-0 start, and the All-American candidate continued to set the tone throughout the tournament and the game. Sykes finished with a game-high 19 points and added five rebounds, five assists and three steals. The senior was named the tournament most valuable player after averaging 17 points, six rebounds and 4.8 assists.
FGCU closed to 15-5, but senior Greg Mays (Chicago, Ill.) scored on a jumper and Sykes drained a triple to extend the lead back to 20-7.
Sykes was whistled for his second foul at the 4:47 mark with Green Bay leading 25-15, and FGCU immediately took advantage and closed the deficit to 25-20 at the 3:07 mark. The Phoenix defense stifled the Eagles until intermission, and led 26-20 at the break.
A third foul on Sykes came just 35 seconds into the second half, but Wardle left his point guard in the game and he scored the next four points. Two Mays free throws put Green Bay up 32-20, and moments later threw down a dunk in the lane.
Mays finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double, and after the game joined Sykes on the all-tournament team. Mays averaged 12.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in the team’s three wins.
The lead was at least nine points the rest of the way as the Phoenix completed an impressive run to the tournament trophy. During the run, the Phoenix held its opponents to 34 percent shooting (52-153) from the field and 28.6 percent from the three-point line (14-49).
Youngstown State 66, UMKC 63
Marcus Keene drained a deep 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left as the Youngstown State men's basketball team earned a gritty 66-63 win over UMKC on Wednesday night at the Beeghly Center.
The Penguins (4-3) led by as many as 11 points in the first half, watched Kansas City rally early in the second half then finally Keene scored the last nine points to give YSU its third straight victory.
Keene was 6-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc, and went 5-of-6 at the free-throw line. He had 18 of his game-high 21 points in the second half.
The Penguins watched a seven-point halftime lead evaporate quickly as UMKC took a brief 38-36 lead just 3:01 into the second stanza. DJ Cole answered with a 3-pointer to put YSU ahead 39-38 and despite five ties in the last 8:43, it never trailed again.
The Guins built their lead back to seven at 50-43 as Bobby Hain knocked down a nice eight-foot jumper, but UMKC went on a 7-0 run to knot things up at 50 with 8:43 left and it was a nip-and-tuck affair the rest of the way.
YSU's biggest advantage in the final stretch was 57-53 on a Keene 3-pointer with 4:02 remaining, however UMKC rattled off the next four points to force another tie 52 seconds later.
Keene broke the tie again with a 3-pointer and after he split a pair of free throws, UMKC tied the contest at 61 on a reverse layup off the glass by Martez Harrison with 53 seconds left. Keene quickly raced down the court and converted a layup with 46.7 ticks remaining to put YSU up 63-61.
UMKC tied the contest with 22.8 seconds as Harrison hit another off-balance layup.
After YSU called a timeout with 16.7 left, Keene found some space and drained a nothing-but-net game-winner from 23 feet. UMKC had one final chance, but Harrison's shot was short.
YSU shot 45.3 percent (24-of-53) for the contest while UMKC connected on 35 percent (21-of-60).
Shawn Amiker had 18 points for the night, including 13 in the first half.
The Guins connected on 45.5 percent from the field making 15-of-33 shots while their defense held the Kangaroos to just 9-of-30 from the floor (30 percent). A 4-of-7 mark from beyond the 3-point arc kept UMKC in the contest in the opening half.
YSU had 18 points in the paint while scoring 11 points off UMKC turnovers on the way to taking a 36-29 lead at the intermission. YSU had four 11-point leads in the first half.
With YSU ahead 9-7, it went on a six-point run as Amiker scored four and Fletcher Larson chipped in a bucket to push the lead out to 15-7 at the 13:28 mark.
#6/5 Louisville 45, Cleveland State 33
Trey Lewis scored a game-high 24 points, but Cleveland State could not pull off an upset of No. 6 ranked Louisville, falling to the Cardinals, 45-33, on Wednesday night at the KFC Yum! Center.
The Cardinals improved to 5-0 this year, while the Vikings slipped to 2-3.
Lewis hit 9-of-20 from the field, including four three-pointers, and added five rebounds.
Montrezl Harrell led the Cardinals with 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Terry Rozier scored nine points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Lewis kept the Vikings close in the first half, scoring 18 points as the Vikings trailed 26-22 at the intermission.
The Cardinals raced out to an 11-5 lead seven minutes in as both teams struggled to find their range from the field. Louisville extended its lead to 10 points (16-6), its largest of the first half with 9:20 to play on a Chinanu Onuaku tip-in, but Lewis scored CSU's next 13 points to bring the Vikings within five (24-19) with just over two minutes left in the half.
A runner in the lane by Andre Yates and a Lewis free throw cut the lead to two (24-22) before Montrezl Harrell had a putback to give the Cardinals a four-point halftime lead.
The Vikings cut their deficit to two points (28-26) six minutes into the second half on a Yates layup, but a 10-3 run by the Cardinals over the next eight minutes allowed them to take a 38-29 lead with just under seven minutes to play.
Back-to-back layups from Aaron Scales and Lewis brought CSU within five (38-33) with six minutes to play, but the Vikings would go scoreless the rest of the way.
The Vikings shot just .250 (13-52) from the field and held the Cardinals to 15-of-47 (.319) shooting. CSU recorded 10 steals, while the Cardinals held a 46-37 edge on the glass and blocked 11 shots.
Georgia State 83, Oakland 78
R.J. Hunter scored 29 points as Georgia State held off a late Oakland surge for an 83-78 victory on Wednesday in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
Georgia State led by as many as 13 points in the second half, but Kahlil Felder scored Oakland's final eight points to make it a one-possession game late.
Felder made three consecutive layups for Oakland, the last to bring them within 81-76 with 1:04 left. Georgia State wound down the clock, but Kevin Ware missed a layup and Felder made two free throws on the other end to get within 81-78.
Hunter made an easy layup with 19 seconds left, Felder missed a layup and Georgia State ran out the clock.
Markus Crider added 17, Ware 15 and Ryan Harrow 14 for Georgia State (4-2).
Max Hooper led Oakland (1-5) with a career-high 21 points and Felder had 18. Corey Petros added his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Dante Williams scored 14 points off the bench.
Oral Roberts 69, Milwaukee 66
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (2-4) nearly pulled off one of its most memorable comeback victories in recent history, but Cody Wichmann's three-pointer glanced off the rim at the buzzer as Oral Roberts (2-3) picked up a 69-66 victory at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Despite the loss, Milwaukee was declared champion of the MGM Grand Main Event's Middleweight Bracket via tiebreaker.
Milwaukee got off to a slow start, falling behind 9-2 early before finally finding its stride. The Panthers got back into the game thanks to a stingy defense that held Oral Roberts to one field goal over a six-minute stretch to turn a 16-10 deficit into an 18-17 lead. Brett Prahl, Wichmann and Justin Jordan provided a lift off the bench in the opening 20 minutes by combining for 14 of the team's 25 points.
Oral Roberts began to pull away in the second half and a three-point play by Denell Henderson gave the Golden Eagles a 50-35 lead, their largest of the game, with 10:58 to play, before the Panthers began to mount a comeback.
Steve McWhorter almost single-handedly helped spark the comeback by scoring 15 of Milwaukee's 19 points over a nearly seven-minute stretch as the Panthers got within 60-57.
Oral Roberts was eventually able to build its lead back up to 64-59 on a basket by Obi Emegano with 1:36 remaining, but a banked in three-pointer by Matt Tiby cut the deficit to two. A pair of free throws from J.R. Lyle with 30 seconds left evened the game at 64 and gave Oral Roberts a chance to win the game on the final possession.
Korey Billbury gave ORU a three-point lead when he connected on a driving layup, drew a foul and buried the free toss with five seconds showing on the clock.
ORU elected to foul and prevent Milwaukee from attempting a game-tying three-pointer and after Wichmann made the first free throw to get UWM within 67-65, his second attempt banked in off the glass to make it a one-point game.
Henderson nailed a pair of free throws with .07 left for a 69-66 Golden Eagles lead and Milwaukee's last-gasp attempt at the win fell just short as Wichmann's three from the left wing bounced off the back of the rim.
McWhorter scored a game-high 21 points to lead Milwaukee, which shot 54 percent from the field in the second half.
Emegano tallied 20 points to lead Oral Roberts.
Tags: Green Bay - Men's Basketball · Horizon League - Men's Basketball · Youngstown State - Men's Basketball
