League Teams Go 3-1 on Saturday

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 9)
Cleveland State 73, Iona 69
Youngstown State 74, Florida International 72 (ot)
Green Bay 71, Northern Michigan 49
Drake 61, UIC 59

Cleveland State and Youngstown State both rallied for thrilling wins in the last minute of play, while Green Bay cruised in its opener. UIC fell in its home opener, as its attempt to tie in the final seconds touched every bit of the rim before falling out.

Through 10 games played by Horizon League men’s basketball teams, four have been decided in the last minute of regulation or overtime. League teams are 3-1 in those games, with the Vikings and Penguins joining Valparaiso as winners.

Cleveland State 73, Iona 69
Trailing by 15 points at the half and 12 with just over eight minutes to play, Cleveland State mounted a furious rally to knock off visiting Iona, 73-69, at the Wolstein Center.

Cleveland State (1-0) used its sophomore combination of Bryn Forbes and Anton Grady to overcome the late deficit. Forbes, the 2013 Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, finished with a team-high 22 points while Grady, who missed nearly all of last year with a knee injury, returned to post 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

Their efforts were supplemented by two newcomers – Trey Lewis and Jon Harris – each of whom finished in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively. It was Lewis who put the Vikings ahead for good with 26.2 second left, hitting two free throws to give Cleveland State a 71-69 lead.

After Iona missed a long three, David Laury was fouled. Sitting on 19 points and 10 rebounds, Laury missed both attempts for the Gaels, and Grady hit two free throws to seal the game.

Down 44-29 at the half, CSU held Iona to a 9-of-37 (.243) effort from the floor in the second half after the Gales scorched the nets in the first half, going 15-of-28 (.536). The Vikings scored the first 11 points of the second half to pull within 44-40 on a three-pointer from Forbes. Grady and Forbes combined for nine of the 11 points to open the half.

After the Vikings pulled within two points (46-44) with 15:30 left, the Gael lead swelled to 12 points (64-52) with just under eight minutes to play, but three straight CSU buckets over a 60 second stretch pulled the Vikings back within six points (64-58) before Marlin Mason and Forbes hit consecutive three-pointers to cap a 12-0 run that tied the game at 64-64 with four minutes left.

The teams traded baskets until a Lewis three-pointer from the corner gave CSU its first lead since midway through the first half, 69-67 with 2:18 to play.

Laury answered with a bucket on the other end to tie the game for the sixth and final time with 1:51 to play and neither team could score again until Lewis’ free throws.

The quick paced first half began with CSU jumping out to a 9-5 lead less than four minutes in, but eight straight points from the Gales gave them a 13-9 advantage with 14:17 left in the half. The game stayed close over the next seven minutes with CSU pulling back within two points (26-24) on a three-pointer from Forbes seven minutes left in the half.

However, the Vikings went cold over the final seven minutes of the half as Iona raced to a 15 point (44-29) halftime lead, thanks in large part to 54-percent shooting (15-28) over the first 20 minutes.

CSU held a 48-43 advantage on the glass and received 24 points from its bench.

Youngstown State 74, Florida International 72 (ot)
Kamren Belin’s jumper with three seconds left in overtime capped a wild final 10 minutes of play and lifted Youngstown State to a 74-72 win over Florida International in both teams’ second game of the Kennesaw State Tournament.

Leading 50-45 with under 12 minutes to play, Youngstown State (2-0) surrendered an 18-0 Florida International run shortly after Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year Kendrick Perry exited the game with his fourth personal foul.

Trailing 63-50 with 7:18 to play, Bobby Hain knocked down the Penguins’ first bucket in 5:28 of game time to snap the run, and Kamren Belin’s second three of the game closed the gap to 65-55 with 6:26 to play.

A traditional three-point play from Bobby Hain and a long-range 3-pointer from Ryan Weber then sliced the deficit to a single possession, 65-62, before two DJ Cole free throws brought the Penguins within 65-64 with 1:40 remaining.

YSU came up with two defensive stands, and Ryan Weber was sent to the fre throw line with 35 seconds to play. The sophomore split the pair to tie the game at 65. FIU’s Rakeem Buckles missed a layup in traffic in the waning seconds to force overtime.

In the extra session, YSU found itself down, 68-65, early, before Belin took over. Playing in his home state, Belin converted a four-point play to give the Penguins a 69-68 edge with 3:10 left.

After two Buckles free throws, Belin drained his fourth 3-pointer of the night to reestablish the YSU lead.

FIU’s Dennis Mavin split two free throws on separate trips to knot the game at 72, but the Penguins defense came through once more, forcing Buckles into a missed three with 39 ticks left, setting the stage for Belin’s heroics.

All 17 of Belin’s points came in the second half and overtime. Perry, though plagued by foul trouble, finished with 15 points and five assists.
For the second straight game, Weber finished in double figures with 11 points, while Hain chipped in 11, coming up a rebound shy of a double-double.

Green Bay 71, Northern Michigan 49
Granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA prior to the season, Vince Garrett made the most of his debut with Green Bay, making 6-of-7 shots and scoring 11 of his team-high 15 points after halftime to lead Green Bay to a 71-49 victory over visiting Northern Michigan at the Kress Center.

Displaying its depth, Green Bay (1-0) put the game away with a 17-0 run in the second half, turning a 38-33 lead in a 55-33 advantage with 9:51 to play. Garrett scored four points during the run, highlighted by an incredible putback dunk in traffic to make it 44-33 at the 16:08 mark.

With the run halted by a pair of Wildcats free throws, the two teams traded baskets before Garrett drained two threes in less than a minute to give Green Bay a 26-point lead (65-39) with 7:03 remaining.

Green Bay’s stifling defense after halftime held the Wildcats to just 7-of-32 shooting from the field. For the game, the Phoenix shot 43.9 percent (25-57) and NMU was held to 30.5 percent (18-59).

Getting a jumper from senior Alec Brown and three points from junior Keifer Sykes, Green Bay jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead. The All-League duo struggled from the field, shooting a combined just 9-of-26 and 0-for-7 from long range, but both Brown and Sykes finished in double figures with 10 points each.

Brown added eight rebounds and two blocks while Sykes grabbed four rebounds and tallied three assists.

Northern Michigan led 15-9 midway through the first half, but Green Bay responded with an 11-2 run to take the lead for good at 20-17. Three-pointers from Lamin Fulton and Carrington Love and a breakaway dunk from Sykes helped the hosts to a 34-27 lead at the break.

Love led the Green Bay bench and was the fourth Phoenix player to reach double figures with 10 points. Freshman Kenneth Lowe totaled five points and nine rebounds as all 11 active players saw the floor and scored.

Green Bay found itself in an early 11-4 hole in the rebounding battle, but the Horizon League leaders in rebound margin a season ago responded to claim a 45-39 edge on the glass. Sophomore Jordan Fouse, who led the conference at 7.9 boards per game as a freshman, grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.

Fouse and junior Greg Mays each recorded three of Green Bay’s nine blocked shots. The nine blocks tie for the fifth-most in a single game in program history.

Drake 61, UIC 59
Hayden Humes’ attempt to tie touched every piece of the rim before falling out of the cylinder, sending UIC to a heartbreaking 61-59 loss to Drake on Saturday night.

UIC (0-1) struggled to contain Bulldog guard Richard Carter who put up a career-high 38 points, including 24 in the second half. Offensively, Marc Brown carried the Flames with 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting while dishing out five assists.

Leading by five at the half, UIC immediately went up by eight to start the second period on a Humes' three-pointer. Carter countered with a personal 14-5 run as the Bulldogs grabbed their first lead of the night with 14:28 left to play.

The contest went back-and-forth over the next four minutes until Drake rattled off nine straight points to go in front 50-42 with 8:30 on the clock. The Flames pulled within one at the 1:16 mark after Brown converted a contested layup on the dish from senior Kelsey Barlow . At the opposite end, Drake's Karl Madison sank one of his two free throws to put his squad up 61-59, which proved to be the final score once Humes' last-second attempt fell off the front end of the rim.

UIC left seven points on the free throw line as they shot 10-of-17 compared to Drake's 20-for-23. Carter was perfect from the charity stripe, sinking all 12 of his attempts.

Barlow performed well in his Flames' debut with 11 points and a career-high seven assists. The Purdue transfer also tallied a team-high three steals.
Humes tacked on 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting.

Sunday will see three conference teams in action – Youngstown State will wrap the Kennesaw State Tournament against Eastern Kentucky (1 p.m. ET), while Valparaiso (vs. North Park, 2:35 p.m. ET) and Wright State (vs. Mount St. Joseph, 5 p.m. ET) will welcome non-Division I competition to their respective venues.