#HLMBB Scoreboard (Feb. 28)
Green Bay 83, Oakland 63
Milwaukee 82, Youngstown State 74
UIC 61, Wright State 46
Green Bay 83, Oakland 63
More than 6,000 fans stood and cheered as seniors Greg Mays (Chicago, Ill.) and Keifer Sykes (Chicago, Ill.) checked out with 52 seconds remaining on Saturday afternoon. If the dynamic duo and fellow seniors Josh Humphrey (Chicago, Ill.) and Alfonzo McKinnie (Chicago, Ill.) had played their final game at the Resch Center, they delivered an impressive final performance.
Sykes and Mays each scored 21 points as Green Bay (23-7, 12-4 HL) rolled to an 83-63 Senior Day win over visiting Oakland (16-15, 11-5 HL) and earned the No. 2 seed in next week’s Horizon League Championship. The Phoenix receive a double bye and will play in a semifinal contest at 6 p.m. on March 7 in Valparaiso, Ind.
After an emotional pregame ceremony honoring the seniors and presenting Sykes with a basketball commemorating his 2,000 career points, Green Bay got off to a slow start and trailed 20-12 at the 13:17 mark of the first half.
Sykes and Mays then combined for 13 points during a 23-6 run which gave the hosts the lead for good. Sykes scored 16 points in the opening half, with Mays adding nine points and six rebounds as Green Bay led 41-31 at the break.
Mays quickly started the second half, getting a dunk and two three-pointers in the first four minutes.
Midway through the half, freshman Daeshon Francis (Indianapolis, Ind.) scored seven points during an 11-2 spurt which increased the lead to 70-49 with 6:48 to play. Francis showed signs of what might be to come in his Phoenix career, scoring 13 of his career-high 17 points in the second half. He made 6-of-7 shots from the field and all five of his free throws.
Green Bay shot 50 percent from the field (31-62) and made 18-of-19 free throws for 94.7 percent. The performance at the charity stripe is tied for the ninth best in program history and the second best by a Phoenix team which shot at least 19 free throws.
Sykes made 9-of-18 shots from the field and added eight assists, four rebounds and two steals without committing a turnover. With 2,038 career points, Sykes is now tied for sixth place on the Horizon League’s all-time scoring list.
Mays connected on 7-of-12 shots and grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked two shots. Junior Jordan Fouse (Racine, Wis.) finished with 16 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and one block in another solid all-around game. Green Bay held a 39-34 edge on the glass and recorded 19 assists with only eight turnovers.
Green Bay is now 60-14 at home under head coach Brian Wardle, including a 13-1 mark in 2014-15.
Milwaukee 82, Youngstown State 74
Visiting University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (14-16, 9-7 Horizon) got 22 points and 11 rebounds from Matt Tiby and 21 points from Akeem Springs to earn an 82-74 victory over Youngstown State (11-20, 2-14 Horizon) tonight at the Beeghly Center. The win is Milwaukee's fourth in a row and seventh in their last nine outings.
The Panthers came out of the starting blocks on fire, hitting their first six three-point field goal attempts, including two each courtesy of Tiby and Springs, to stun Youngstown State en route to a 20-4 lead.
Youngstown cut the deficit to 30-20, but Milwaukee countered with a 16-2 run the featured seven points from Tiby, to extend the lead to 46-22, the largest of the half. In addition to shooting 16-for-29 (.552) from the field, including 8-for-14 (.571) from three-point territory in the first half, the Panthers limited the host Penguins to 28.1 percent (9-for-32) from the field and 16.7 percent (2-for-12) from long range and held them to just one field goal over the final 9:02 of the period.
The Penguins opened the second half with a 21-11 run to cut the Milwaukee lead to 57-50 with 12:25 left to play, but a Cody Wichmann three from the top of the key pushed the Panthers' lead back to double digits.
Youngstown State mounted another comeback and capped a 19-7 run with a bucket by Bobby Hain as the Penguins took their first and only lead of the contest at 70-69 with 5:19 remaining. But, Tiby answered with a three-ponter just 22 seconds later, to put the Panthers back on top and two free throws each from Steve McWhorter and Tiby extended the Milwaukee lead to 74-69. From there, YSU never got closer than two points and Milwaukee sealed the outcome by draining all eight of its free throw attempts in the final two minutes of regulation.
Tiby's double-double was his eighth of the season and Springs equaled a career-high with 21 points to go with six boards. McWhorter was sensational in his final game as a Panther, totaling 18 points, seven assists, three blocks, a pair of rebounds and an assist. J.J. Panoske continued his solid play by chipping in 13 points, seven boards and two blocks.
Shawn Amiker led Youngstown State with 23 points.
UIC 61, Wright State 46
The UIC men's basketball team (8-23, 4-12 HL) earned the No. 6 seed and a first round home game for the 2015 Horizon League Tournament with a 61-46 regular season finale victory against Wright State (11-19, 3-13 HL) on Saturday afternoon. Senior Marc Brown poured in a game-high 18 points as senior Jay Harris added 12 points and tied a career-high with eight assists.
UIC will host the No. 7 seed on Tuesday (March 3), which will be Wright State or Youngstown State. YSU hosts Milwaukee tonight at 6 p.m. CT and if the Penguins win they will earn the No. 7 seed.
"I was extremely proud of our defense today," said head coach Howard Moore. "We played tremendously on the defensive end with active hands, steals, deflections and we turned that action into positive plays for us. We did not shoot the ball very well, but I thought we were patient in our offense and worked the ball on the inside."
The Flames' defense held Wright State to 46 points which is UIC's lowest Horizon League opponent total since Jan. 18, 2003 (Detroit, 44). It is also the second lowest total in the conference this season. UIC forced 15 Raider turnovers and held WSU to less than 35 percent shooting from the field.
Today's victory is the Flames' first regular season finale win since the 2008-09 campaign and gives UIC four conference wins for just the second time in six seasons.
UIC used a 12-0 run midway through the first half to claim an 18-10 lead and never trailed for the remainder of the contest. Eight different UIC players scored in the first period as the Flames owned a 24-18 edge at the break.
Brown scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half as the Dallas native needs just 14 more to reach 1,000 for his career. The Raiders pulled within one (28-27) of UIC with 16:11 to play after junior J.T. Yoho nailed a three-pointer from the left wing.
At the 10:47 mark, the Flames executed a 9-0 run to go in front by double digits (46-33) and stayed ahead of WSU by 11 or more for the rest of the game.
UIC shot 20-of-22 from the foul line in the second half and 24-of-27 overall. Harris was a perfect 12-of-12 from the charity stripe as he now owns 146 made free throws this season, which ties him for second on UIC's all-time single season leaderboard. He needs six more to take the top spot held by Bobby Locke (1986-87).
Freshman Tai Odiase received his first start since Dec. 22 and recorded six points, four rebounds and two blocked shots. Junior Jason McClellan also had two blocks with seven points. UIC's eight total swats is the program's highest mark since Nov. 16, 2011.
Senior Ahman Fells tied career-highs of 11 rebounds and four steals and added five points.
"To have a home tournament game is huge for us," said Moore. "We are excited to give our fans another game at the UIC Pavilion."
