Green Bay and Cleveland State Remain at Top of the #HLMBB Standings

#HLMBB Scoreboard (Feb. 13)
Green Bay 71, Youngstown State 40
Cleveland State 73, UIC 53

Green Bay 71, Youngstown State 40
Youngstown State senior guard Kendrick Perry became the school's all-time leading scorer in the Division I era, but the Green Bay offense set the tone early in a71-40 victory over the Penguins on Thursday at Beeghly Center.

Alec Brown went on to score a game-high 24 points and block three shots for visiting Green Bay, which held a 38-18 edge in the paint and broke the Horizon League single-season blocks record during the win against the Penguins. The Phoenix has blocked 185 shots in 2013-14, breaking the league record of 182 set by YSU in 2012-13.

Perry's record-breaking points tied the score at 2-2, and the Penguins held leads of 4-2 and 6-4 in the first four minutes. After Shawn Amiker's bucket at the 16:07 mark, YSU went more than three minutes without a field goal as Green Bay went on a 10-1 run to go up 14-7.

Belin hit a 3-pointer at the 10:53 mark to get YSU within 16-12, but Green Bay scored the next six points as part of a 21-6 run over the next eight-and-a-half minutes. Sykes's tip-in at the 8:48 mark put the Phoenix up by double digits for the first time, and the lead grew to 37-18 on a Brown 3-pointer with 2:07 remaining.

The Phoenix started 7-of-11 shooting and outshot the Penguins 53.1 percent to 34.6 percent in the first half.

Brown scored the first four points of the second half as Green Bay extended its lead to 43-23, but Bobby Hain and D.J. Cole both had four points during an 8-0 YSU run to cut the deficit to 12. Phoenix head coach Brian Wardle called timeout as the Penguins started to seize the momentum, and Green Bay held YSU to one field goal over the next 9:37 as it pulled away. The Phoenix outscored the Penguins 28-9 over the final 16 minutes.

Brown finished with 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting from the field and added four rebounds and three blocked shots. With 768 rebounds in his career, Brown became the program’s all-time leader at the Division I level.

Sykes added 14 points, nine rebounds and five assists while committing just one turnover. Nine different Phoenix players scored on Thursday, including Alfonzo McKinnie (Chicago, Ill.) knocking down a jumper for his first points at Green Bay.

Hain led the Penguins with 11 points and five rebounds, and Perry finished with 10 points and two steals. He now has 1,831 points in his career, surpassing Reggie Kemp's total of 1,821 points from 1988-93. The senior guard also tied the Horizon League record for career steals at 237.

Cleveland State 73, UIC 53
UIC fell on the road to Cleveland State on Thursday night in the Wolstein Center by a final score of 73-53. The Vikings proved why they are one of the nation’s top three-point shooting teams, connecting on 56 percent (10-of-18) of their shots from behind the arc as CSU extends its winning streak to seven straight.

The seven game win streak is the longest at CSU since the 2010-11 team opened the year with 12 straight wins.

Senior Hayden Humes scored a team-high 13 points, playing in his first game since Jan. 22 due to an eye injury.  Senior Kelsey Barlow followed close behind with 12 points, his 18th double-digit game of the season.

Trey Lewis led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points and added four rebounds, while Jon Harris finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. It was his 14th double-digit scoring game of the season, the most double-figure scoring games by a CSU reserve in a season in program history.

Anton Grady tallied 12 points and six rebounds, while Bryn Forbes added 15 points and Charlie Lee dished out seven assists.

A Lewis layup midway through the first half started a 10-2 CSU run that helped the Vikings open up a 10 point lead (21-11) with 6:38 to play in the first half. However, the Flames would close within two points (27-25) on a pair of free throws with 33 seconds left in the first half, but Sebastian Douglas drilled a three-pointer from the corner just before the buzzer, giving CSU a 30-25 halftime lead.

Back-to-back baskets from UIC, cut the Vikings lead to 30-29, one minute into the second half, but a 13-3 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes allowed CSU to open up an 11 point lead (43-32) and the Vikings led by double figures the rest of the way.

Forbes hit two three-pointers, raising his season total to 69, three away from setting the CSU single season school record. CSU's 10 three-pointers give them 204 this season, the fourth straight season the Vikings have hit at least 200 three's and the fifth time in school history.

CSU shot 30-of-60 (.500) from the field, the fifth straight game the Vikings shot 50-percent or better from the field and the 15th time this year. The Vikings, who entered the game tied with Duke as the top three-point shooting team in the nation at 42-percent, hit 10-of-18 (.556) from three tonight.