Horizon League Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 6)
Green Bay 68, #15/15 Miami (Florida) 55
Detroit 67, South Florida 57
Oakland 70, Morehead Stat 68 (OT)
Loyola 77, UIC 67
New Mexico 63, Valparaiso 46
Green Bay 68, #15/15 Miami (Florida) 55
Getting a career-high 20 points from junior Carrington Love (Milwaukee, Wis.), visiting Green Bay (6-2) led for more than 35 minutes on Saturday afternoon and defeated No. 15/15 Miami (8-1) 68-55 at the BankUnited Center. The victory marks the first road win over a ranked opponent in program history and the first win over a ranked opponent since 2009-10.
The Phoenix victory comes nearly a year to the date of last season’s 74-72 victory over another ACC opponent, Virginia. Green Bay improved to 4-0 on the season in Florida.
Love added career-high totals in rebounds (9), steals (4) and blocks (2) and tied his career highs in field goals made (6) and minutes (36) in leading the Phoenix win. Senior Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) made 7-of-8 free throws and added 18 points and seven rebounds as Green Bay’s starting backcourt combined for 38 points and 16 rebounds.
Miami scored the first four points of the afternoon, but the Phoenix responded with the next seven points and did not trail the rest of the game. After a run including three baskets from sophomore Kenneth Lowe (Little Chute, Wis.), Green Bay’s lead reached 22-11 with 7:41 to play before intermission. Lowe finished with eight points.
Miami scored 12 of the final 15 points before the break, but Green Bay still led 25-23 on the strength of its defense. The previously undefeated Hurricanes shot just 30.3 percent from the field in the half.
Green Bay’s lead was just 31-30 five minutes into the second half, but the Phoenix erupted for a 17-2 run over the next five minutes to lead 48-32 with 9:30 to play. Love scored seven points and Sykes added four during the run.
The Hurricanes closed to 48-43 with an 11-0 run before seniors Greg Mays (Chicago, Ill.) and Alfonzo McKinnie (Chicago, Ill.) combined for the play of the game. Sykes threw a long pass ahead to Mays, who saved it under the bucket and found a cutting McKinnie for a monster dunk in the lane and a 50-43 lead with 4:44 on the clock.
The Phoenix lead was at least seven for the rest of the game, and Sykes and Love combined to make 14-of-16 free throws to ice the historic victory.
Miami entered having scored 70 or more points in six of games and at least 65 in all eight victories, but the Phoenix held the Hurricanes to just 55 points on a season-low 32.8 percent shooting from the field and a season-low five three-pointers. Green Bay’s defense held point guard Angel Rodriguez (14.1 PPG) to just 12 points on 2-of-15 shooting from the field. Led by its backcourt, Green Bay also outrebounded the Hurricanes 46-37.
After contributing 11 points on 4-of-21 shooting in Thursday’s loss, Green Bay’s four starters not named Sykes totaled 41 points on 16-of-31 shooting on Saturday.
Detroit 67, South Florida 57
Senior Juwan Howard Jr. scored a team-high 16 points and junior Anton Wilson netted 15 as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team knocked off American Athletic Conference member South Florida for the second-straight year, 67-57, on Dick Vitale Court in Calihan Hall on Saturday.
Wilson's 15 points came on a season-high five three-pointers, just one away from tying his career high, while 13 of Howard Jr.'s 16 points came in the second half.
The Titans (6-3) trailed by as many as five in the first half, but used a 13-3 run to end the first period and take a lead it would never relinquish the rest of the way. Detroit then led by as many as 10, 54-44, with 7:29 left in the second half when the Bulls scored nine-straight to cut it to one, 54-53, with six minutes remaining.
Howard Jr. ended that spurt with a basket, but South Florida (5-3) scored again to make it 56-55 at the 4:19 mark. The Titans then held off another USF charge for the lead with a bucket from Bass and a three from Howard Jr., for a 61-55 lead with 3:25 left.
The defense – which limited USF to its lowest scoring total so far on the season - then sealed the win forcing South Florida to miss its last four shots from the field, as well as turn it over once, giving the Titans their fourth home win of the season.
Redshirt freshman Paris Bass added 11 points, four rebounds and a pair of blocks and sophomore Matthew Grant had nine points, a team-high five rebounds and three assists.
Detroit finished the game shooting 46.9 percent, including 10-of-20 from three-point territory. UDM connected on 11-of-15 (73.3 percent) at the line and turned 16 South Florida turnovers into a 25-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Titans came out shooting with eight-straight points after South Florida scored the games first basket. The last six came from behind the arc with Wilson and Howard Jr. connecting from long range.
The Bulls countered with five-straight to get within one, 8-7, and took a 12-11 lead, but a layup from Ackerman pushed the Titans back in front at the 10:51 mark. USF again jumped in front, but Wilson knotted it at 16-all with another long ball with 8:27 left in the half.
Detroit then got down by five, 25-20, but came back to take the lead with 10-straight points, six courtesy of Wilson as he sank his third and fourth three-pointer in the first half, the last giving UDM a 28-25 lead. Jarod Williams would follow with a jumper to make it a 30-25 game and then Carlton Brundidge beat the buzzer with a three from way beyond the arc to give the Titans a 33-28 advantage at the break.
Oakland 70, Morehead State 68 (OT)
Corey Petros hit a jumper in the lane with 1.6 second left in overtime to give Oakland a 70-68 victory over Morehead State on Saturday.
Lyonell Gaines scored four points in overtime for Morehead State, including a putback with 32 seconds left to tie it before Petros hit the game-winner.
Petros had 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Kahlil Felder 13 points and seven assists to lead Oakland (4-5).
Angelo Warner scored four points during an 11-2 run to give Morehead State a 61-59 lead with 2:06 remaining in regulation. Dante Williams split a pair of free throws and Felder and Petros scored to give Oakland back the lead, 64-61 with 38 seconds left. Corban Collins drained a trey to tie it with 29 seconds to go, and Petros missed a layup to send it to overtime.
Gaines had 18 points and 10 boards to lead Morehead State (4-7).
Nick Daniels was the final Oakland player to reach double figures, finishing with 10 points. The Golden Grizzlies led by as many as 18 points in the first half and held the Eagles to 22 at the break, the least amount allowed by Oakland this season. Oakland is riding a three-game winning streak and is 4-1 in its last five games.
Loyola 77, UIC 67
The UIC men’s basketball team (2-7) fell to city-rival Loyola (5-2) at home on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 77-67. Junior Paris Burns scored a career-high 26 points, including 24 in the second half, but Loyola’s Milton Doyle (19) and Christian Thomas (17) combined for 36 points to secure the non-league win.
Senior Jay Harris added 12 points on the day, his ninth double-digit effort in his last 10 collegiate games. Harris also recorded five assists and four rebounds.
“We had trouble converting on the offensive end,” said head coach Howard Moore. “Many times throughout the game we had chances to score and just missed point-blank shots. I thought we did a decent job defensively in the first half, but we have yet to find that full 40 minutes of basketball this season.”
The Flames jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the start of the game, but Loyola answered with a 19-3 run to go ahead 19-8 by the 8:20 mark. UIC regrouped and scored 11 straight points to knot the score at 19-19 with 5:25 left in the first half.
The Ramblers executed in the final minutes of the first period, outscoring the Flames 8-2 and taking hold of a 31-23 halftime lead. Loyola shot 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes (12-of-20), while UIC converted 30 percent (10-of-30).
Loyola went up by 11 points (36-25) early in the second half after a Doyle three-pointer, but the Flames whittled their lead down to 40-35 after a dunk by junior Jake Wiegand at the 15:40 mark. UIC would pull to within five points roughly four minutes later, which proved to be the closest UIC came to the Ramblers for the rest of the game.
Burns’ 24 second-half points was most by a UIC player in the final period since Daniel Barnes poured in 25 against Detroit on March 2, 2013. The Chicago native scored 14 of those 24 second-half points in the final 5:01 of the game.
UIC won the rebounding battle by a margin of 41-30 and grabbed a team-season high 22 offensive caroms. Wiegand paced UIC on the glass for the eighth time this year with a game-high nine rebounds, five of which were offensive. The power forward added nine points as he still leads the team in scoring (15.1) and rebounding (8.6).
Senior Ahman Fells received the start today and gave produced quality minutes with six points on 3-of-3 shooting.
New Mexico 63, Valparaiso 46
The Valparaiso men’s basketball team suffered through its worst shooting night at the ARC in over 14 years on Saturday night, falling to New Mexico by a 63-46 final.
Valpo shot just 16-of-53 from the floor (30.2%), its worst field goal percentage in a home game since hitting 28.8% from the field in a loss to Western Illinois on Jan. 22, 2000. The woes from the floor spread up and down the lineup, as no Crusader connected on better than half of their field goal attempts and none of the eight Valpo players who took the floor finished in double figures in points – sophomore Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) led the way with nine points.
As opposed to the last seven games, when the Crusaders had never trailed by more than one possession, Saturday saw New Mexico run out to the early lead, as the Lobos led 10-4 just over five minutes into the game. Valpo would score nine of the next 13 points, capped by a 3-pointer from Peters, to crawl back into the game, as the trifecta left the Crusaders trailing 14-13 halfway through the opening period.
The two squads traded baskets – Valpo’s coming on a dunk by senior Vashil Fernandez (Kingston, Jamaica/Princeton Day [Md.] Academy) – but following Fernandez’s slam, the Crusaders went cold, going scoreless for the next four-plus minutes as the Lobos pulled ahead by six at the 5:04 mark. Valpo made it a one-possession game once again with 3:42 to play in the half on a triple courtesy of junior Keith Carter (Maywood, Ill./Proviso East [Saint Louis]), but would not score the remainder of the half as New Mexico ended the first period on a 7-0 run to take a 30-20 lead into the locker room.
Valpo was able to get the game into single digits twice in the second half, but couldn’t sustain the momentum to cut any further into the Lobos’ advantage. Junior Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) hit a 3-pointer with 16:20 remaining to make it a 36-27 game, but New Mexico’s Xavier Adams answered with a triple of his own just 18 seconds later.
The Crusaders’ final burst came around the midway point of the second half, as trailing 45-31, Valpo pieced together a 10-4 run over a four-minute span, with a pair of free throws from junior E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]) bringing the Crusaders within 49-41 with 8:13 to go. But with the crowd on its feet urging the Valpo defense on, the Lobos’ Tim Jacobs knocked down a runner, and then following a Crusader miss, Hugh Greenwood nailed a 3-pointer on the break to slam the door on any potential comeback.
Peters’ nine points led the way for Valpo, with Nickerson adding eight off the bench and Carter chipping in seven. The Crusaders’ shooting woes were exacerbated beyond the 3-point line, as Valpo went just 3-of-22 from beyond the arc. Carter added team highs of four assists and four steals as well.
Deshawn Delaney paced four New Mexico (5-3) players in double figures with 17 points. Greenwood, Obij Aget and Devon Williams all added ten points each as the Lobos shot 52.3% (23-of-44) from the field. New Mexico recorded a 38-28 advantage on the glass over the Crusaders, led by six boards apiece from Delaney, Williams and Sam Logwood.
Tags: Detroit Mercy - Men's Basketball · Green Bay - Men's Basketball · Horizon League - Men's Basketball · Oakland - Men's Basketball
