#HLMBB Scoreboard (Feb. 8)
Cleveland State 72, Wright State 68
Milwaukee 73, Green Bay 63
Cleveland State 72, Wright State 68
The Wright State men's basketball team led by two with 28.2 seconds to go, only to see Cleveland State finish the game with a 7-1 run as the Vikings pulled out a 72-68 Horizon League decision Saturday afternoon at WSU's Nutter Center.
Charlie Lee scored 25 points and Anton Grady had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds to lead Cleveland State.
CSU improved to 17-9 overall and 8-3 in the league, while WSU fell to 14-13 overall and 6-6 in the league.
Lee, who was coming off a career-high 31 point effort at Oakland on Saturday, hit 4-of-5 from three-point and all seven of his free throws. Grady posted his fifth double-double this season and ninth of his career, while Bryn Forbes scored 10 points and Jon Harris added nine points and seven rebounds.
Jerran Young led the Raiders with 15 points.
The Vikings trailed 67-65 with 23 seconds left and after a timeout, Lee was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all three free throws to put CSU up, 68-67 with 16 seconds left. Lee has hit all 37 of his free throws this year with under five minutes to play.
WSU missed a shot and the ball was knocked out of bounds by the Raiders. Forbes was fouled on the inbounds pass and sank both free throws to put the Vikings ahead, 70-67 with six seconds to play.
The Raiders got the ball over halfcourt and called timeout. Sebastian Douglas immediately fouled Chrishawn Hopkins on the inbound and after Hopkins made the first, he missed the second intentionally and Grady grabbed the rebound with 0.5 seconds left.
Grady knocked down both free throws after he was fouled, sealing the game.
CSU hit all 15 of its free throws in the second half.
The Vikings hit six of their first seven shots to storm out to a 16-3 lead just six minutes in on back-to-back three-pointers from Lee. However, the Raiders used three three-pointers to pull within four points (18-14) at the 11:30 mark before Jon Harris had an offensive rebound put back to give the Vikings a 20-14 advantage.
A Forbes three-pointer with 5:06 to play in the half pushed CSU's lead to nine points (29-20), but the Raiders scored the final 11 points of the first half to take a 31-29 lead into the locker room.
It was the first time since Jan. 19 against Wright State that the Vikings trailed at the half, a span of six games.
The Vikings opened up a nine-point lead (47-38) with 10:56 to play, but a 17-5 Raider run allowed WSU to take a 55-52 lead with six minutes to play, setting up the frantic finish that featured seven lead changes and two ties.
Milwaukee 73, Green Bay 63
On the road, Milwaukee (16-9, 6-5 HL) used a 20-5 second-half run to build a lead and held off Green Bay (19-5, 9-2 HL) on Saturday afternoon at the Resch Center.
Green Bay led 16-8 early in the opening half before Milwaukee took the lead with a 13-0 run. The Phoenix battled back, and senior Alec Brown hit a three-pointer to help the hosts take a 29-28 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Milwaukee scored the opening five points of the second half to take a lead it would never relinquished. After Phoenix junior Keifer Sykes made a jumper at the 15:20 mark to cut the deficit to 39-38, the Panthers scored 20 of the next 25 points to take control (59-43) with 7:07 to play.
Green Bay closed to 64-54 with 2:30 to play and forced two-straight Panther turnovers, but a Phoenix turnover and a missed free throw prevented the hosts from closing the gap to single digits.
As has been the case in many of its wins, Milwaukee received a wide variety of contributions. Steve McWhorter added 10 points and Kyle Kelm nine, while Malcolm Moore came off the bench to contribute nine points, six rebounds and three impressive blocks. Plus, Thierno Niang and Mitch Roelke combined for 14 key minutes to help Milwaukee overcome some foul trouble.
Sykes scored 19 of his 26 points in the second half to lead Green Bay, but no other Phoenix player reached double figures. Jordan Aaron led Milwaukee with a game-high 30 points, making 8-of-13 shots from the field, 4-of-6 three-pointers and all 10 of his free throws.
