Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 13)
Green Bay 64, Drake 48
Valparaiso 65, Ball State 62
#11/11 Wichita State 77, Detroit 68
Bowling Green 67, Cleveland State 57
Texas A&M 81, Youngstown State 63
Green Bay 64, Drake 48
Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) nearly outscored visiting Drake by himself in the opening half (20-18) as Green Bay (7-2) opened up a big halftime lead, and the senior’s teammates used impressive defense down the stretch to make sure it held up in a 64-48 victory at the Resch Center on Saturday afternoon.
Sykes finished with a season-high 23 points and added four steals. Green Bay finished with 14 steals, just two shy of the program’s single-game record.
The game was tied at 6-6 just five minutes into the first half and Sykes had missed his first two shot attempts, including an airballed three-pointer.
Senior Alfonzo McKinnie (Chicago, Ill.) broke the tie with a dunk, and then Sykes started seeing the ball go through the net with regularity. The senior guard converted a fastbreak layup, and then knocked down four consecutive shots from beyond the arc. He finished the night 5-of-7 on three-pointers.
The final three shots from long range were during a 15-2 Phoenix run that turned a 16-13 lead into a 31-15 advantage with 4:16 to play before halftime.
Sykes’ sixth-straight made field goal came on a layup with 2:56 to play, and the Chicago native added two free throws to close the first-half scoring as Green Bay led 37-20 at intermission. Sykes was 6-of-10 from the field at halftime for 18 points, and Green Bay’s defense was holding Drake to just 30.4 percent shooting.
In the second half, Green Bay’s advantage was only 12 with 7:15 to play when Sykes went to the bench with his fourth foul. Any thoughts of a Drake rally were squelched thanks to the Phoenix defense, and Green Bay’s point guard never needed to return to the floor.
With junior Carrington Love (Milwaukee, Wis.) scoring five points and fellow junior Jordan Fouse (Racine, Wis.) throwing down a dunk in transition, Green Bay went on an 8-0 run to build the lead to 62-42.
During the run, which spanned more than five minutes, Green Bay held Drake to 0-of-4 shooting while forcing four turnovers and collecting three steals and two blocks.
Fouse scored 13 points and added a game-high eight rebounds as the Phoenix held a 29-21 margin on the glass. Love added 12 points, a career-high seven assists and three steals.
Drake became the third Phoenix opponent this season and 17th in the past five season under head coach Brian Wardle to fail to reach 50 points. Green Bay also improved to 50-13 under Wardle at home.
Valparaiso 65, Ball State 62
The Valparaiso men’s basketball team became one of the nation’s first programs to hit the ten-win mark for the season on Saturday evening at the ARC, rallying from an early 12-point deficit and then holding off a Ball State rally down the stretch to earn the 65-62 win.
The Crusaders joined a group of eight teams - which consists of Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arizona, Maryland, Colorado State, Notre Dame, TCU and Valparaiso - of teams that have reached double figures in victories already this season. With the win, Valpo improved to 10-2 on the season and reached the ten-win mark earlier in the calendar year than any other team in program history.
Leading the way on Saturday was sophomore forward Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington). Peters picked up the second double-double of his career, finishing the night with 23 points – his sixth 20-point effort of the year – and ten rebounds. Eight of Peters’ rebounds came in the second half, as Valpo out-rebounded Ball State 25-20 over the final 20 minutes.
Trailing by six points (39-33) at intermission, the Crusaders locked down defensively coming out to start the second half, giving up just four points to Ball State over the first ten-plus minutes of the period. The Cardinals were just 2-of-14 from the floor over that stretch, while Valpo also forced five turnovers.
Despite the solid defense to start the half, Valpo still found itself down by four points, as Ball State connected on both its makes during the stretch in succession to push its lead to 43-39 with 14:09 to go in the game. But over the next four minutes, the Crusaders reeled off 11 straight points to pull ahead.A triple by junior Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) tied things up at 43 apiece, and an emphatic fast-break dunk from junior E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]) made it a four-point lead just inside of 12 minutes to play. The 11-0 run was capped with a 3-pointer from Peters, pushing Valpo’s edge to 50-43 as the half reached the halfway mark.
Ball State wasn’t finished, answering with an 11-4 run over five-plus minutes, as a short jumper from Franko House tied the game at 54-54 with 4:25 remaining. But the Crusaders responded with nine consecutive points over the next three minutes, getting inside baskets from Peters and junior Keith Carter (Maywood, Ill./Proviso East [Saint Louis]) and a jumper in the lane from freshman Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) during the run. Darien Walker connected on a mid-range jumper with 1:27 to play to give the Crusaders their largest lead at 63-54.
The Cardinals had one final push remaining, as Sean Sellers hit a 3-pointer with 1:04 remaining to cut Valpo’s lead to six points. After a Crusader miss, Zavier Turner hit two free throws to make it a four-point game, and while Valpo hit a long pass to Tevonn Walker to break the press for a layup, Ball State came back with an old-fashioned 3-point play from Turner with 15 seconds to play to make it a 65-62 game. The Crusaders missed four free throws on their possession, giving BSU a chance at the tie, but the Valpo guards defended well, forcing a very deep, off-balance 3-point effort before the buzzer which was off the mark.
For the second straight Saturday, Valpo got off to a slow start, as Ball State scored the first nine points of the game and led 14-2 six minutes into the contest. With the deficit still 12 points at 22-10 with 9:49 to go in the half, Valpo scored 21 of the next 29 points over a span of six minutes to take its first lead of the game. Peters had eight points during the run, while Darien Walker knocked down a pair of 3-pointers as well as the Crusaders went ahead, 31-30. But Ball State closed the half with a 9-2 spurt, taking a 39-33 lead into the locker room.
Darien Walker joined Peters in double figures on Saturday, scoring 14 points, including four 3-pointers. Tevonn Walker and Nickerson each added nine points apiece. Valpo shot just 36.2% (21-of-58) from the field and just 7-of-24 from 3-point range, but got to the foul line 26 times, hitting 16 – as opposed to just nine trips to the line for Ball State.
The Crusaders ended the night with a slim 39-38 edge on the glass over the Cardinals, led by Peters’ ten boards and a career-best eight rebounds from Carter, who also handed out five assists. Valpo committed just five turnovers in the game and registered seven steals, a career-high four of which ended up in the hands of Peters.
Sellers led Ball State (3-4) with 14 points, while Turner scored 13 as well, but was just 4-of-13 from the field and committed six turnovers. The Cardinals finished hitting at a 40.4% clip from the field, but hit just one 3-pointer in the second half after knocking down eight first-half triples.
#11/11 Wichita State 77, Detroit 68
Senior Juwan Howard Jr. scored a game-high 27 points to become the 39th Titan to join the 1,000-point club, but that wasn't enough as No. 11 Wichita State used a late run to sneak past the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team 77-68 on Saturday. The game was played in front of 4,110 people at historic Calihan Hall.
The Titans (6-4) trailed by as much as 11 points in the first half, but used a 23-9 run in the second stanza to build a 54-44 lead with 11:54 remaining. Howard led the charge with 13 points during that run. But the Shockers were able to bounce back to close the game on a 33-14 run including seven-straight free throws in the closing minute to secure their 42nd win over their last 44 games.
Howard finished with 27 points – 17 in the second half – three rebounds, two steals and two assists, while freshman Paris Bass added 12 points to go along with a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore guard Matthew Grant also scored 12 points while grabbing seven boards and dishing out three assists.
Wichita State (7-1) opened the game with a 16-5 run after connecting on its first four three-point attempts, before the Titans were able to respond with a 14-6 run – including five straight points from Bass - to trim the lead to 22-19 with 9:15 left. The Shockers then scored five-straight points to go back up by eight points, 27-19, before the Titans went on a 12-6 run, which included a three-pointer from Howard with 53 seconds left to make the score 33-31.
Detroit's defense made a key stop on the Shockers next possession, to give the Titans an opportunity to tie or take the lead, but a missed three-pointer from Howard with 22 seconds left gave Wichita State the last shot of the half, which was made by Daruis Carter to make the score 35-31 during intermission. Howard led all scorers with 10 points in the first half, while Bass had seven points for Detroit.
The Titans opened the second half with a 23-9 run to build their largest lead of the game, 54-44, but a late run from the Shockers was just enough to avoid dropping their second road game of the season.
Detroit finished the game shooting 44.8 percent overall, including 9-of-24 from three-point territory, while Wichita State finished shooting 41.3 percent overall and 9-of-28 from downtown.
Bowling Green 67, Cleveland State 57
Playing for the first time since last Sunday, Cleveland State was victimized by a strong second half by Bowling Green and fell to the Falcons, 67-57, on Saturday afternoon at the Stroh Center.
CSU fell to 4-5, while the Falcons moved to 6-2 this season.
Trey Lewis paced the Vikings with 14 points, seven rebounds, five steals and four assists, while Charlie Lee added 13 points and three assists. Marlin Mason added 11 points, six rebounds and three steals and Kaza Keane chipped in eight points off the bench.
Richaun Woods led four Falcon players in double figures with 15 points and nine rebounds.
Trailing 12-11 seven minutes in, the Vikings used three straight three-pointers from Lee to take a 10 point lead (21-11) with 11:24 to play. Lee hit the three trifectas over a 43 second span.
CSU's lead grew to as many as 12 points (31-19) on a Lewis three-pointer with four minutes to play in the half, but it would be the last points for the Vikings in the first half as CSU took a 31-24 lead into the locker room.
The Falcons came out of the intermission and scored the first nine points of the second half to build a 33-31 lead five minutes into the half. A pair of free throws from Keane gave the Vikings their first points in over nine minutes to knot the game at 33-33 and after the teams traded free throws to make it 35-35, the Falcons used a 20-6 spurt to open up a 14 point lead (55-41) with 7:38 left.
CSU could not get the deficit under double digits the rest of the way.
The Vikings, who came into the game leading the Horizon League in steals, made 13 today and forced 20 Falcon turnovers. CSU shot just 20-of-61 from the floor, including 6-of-27 from three-point.
The Falcons were just 19-of-45 from the floor, but went to the free throw line 32 times, making 24. BGSU also held a 42-31 advantage on the glass.
Texas A&M 81, Youngstown State 63
Senior Shawn Amiker scored a team-high 16 points and classmate DJ Cole added 15 points with six assists, but the Youngstown State men's basketball team dropped an 81-63 decision to Texas A&M on Saturday afternoon at Reed Arena.
The Penguins fall to 7-5 while the Aggies, who made 11 3-pointers, improve to 7-2.
Junior Shawn Stewart came off the bench and scored 11 points for the Penguins, who also made eight 3-pointers.
Leading the way for the Aggies was Jalen Jones with 27 points on 11-of-13 shooting from the field, including four 3-pointers. Danuel House, who also made four 3's, scored 21 points and had six assists.
Trailing by at the half and by 12 just two minutes into the second, the Penguins scored six straight on a jumper by Amiker, a layup by Bobby Hain and a jumper by Cole to get back within six, 40-34, with 17:15 left.
After falling behind by 11, 3-pointers by Marcus Keene, Cole and Stewart and a layup by Amiker brought the Aggies lead down to four, 51-47, at the 12:30 mark.
A layup by House and a 3-pointer by Jones pushed the A&M edge back to nine, but a four-point play by Cole and another 3-pointer by Stewart brought the Penguins within striking distance, 58-54, with 9:14 to go.
Over the next five minutes, the Aggies went on a 13-2 run to push their lead up to 15, 71-56, with 4:43 left and led by as many as 20, 81-61, with just under two minutes left.
In the first half that featured four lead changes, neither team led by more than four points throughout the first 13 minute of the game.
Stewart tied the game at 14-14 with a jumper at the 11:02 mark and then drained a 3-pointer to get the Penguins within one, 19-18, with 7:20 left before halftime.
The Aggies, though, score the next 10 and 13 of the next 15 to extend their lead to 12, 32-20, with 3:18 remaining.
Youngstown State made three of its final four field-goal attempts to head into the lockerroom down 10, 36-26.
Tags: Green Bay - Men's Basketball · Horizon League - Men's Basketball · Valparaiso - Men's Basketball
