Logjam at Top of Horizon League After Friday Night

Horizon League Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 20)
Youngstown State 68, Milwaukee 66
Cleveland State 78, Green Bay 68

Just 10 months after the first three-way tie for the regular season title in Horizon League history, the 2011-12 men’s basketball season is in a similar position after Youngstown State and Cleveland State claimed victories on Friday.

Youngstown State 68, Milwaukee 66
A year after a double-overtime thriller, Youngstown State and Milwaukee put on another exciting show, with the Penguins coming out on top, 68-66, at the Beeghly Center.

In a matchup of the League’s best three-point shooting team and the nation’s top three-point defensive squad, Youngstown State (10-8, 5-3 Horizon) used its three-point prowess to open an 11-point lead at the half before holding on down the stretch.

Milwaukee (13-7, 6-2 Horizon) trailed for over 24 minutes before taking a 61-59 lead on a Kaylon Williams three-pointer with 4:35 to play. Williams carried the Panthers in the second half after a foul-plagued first half, finishing with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

Williams’ final assist came on an alley-oop to Ryan Allen, giving Milwaukee a 64-61 lead with just under three minutes to play before Youngstown State chipped away at the free throw line. Kendrick Perry split a pair before DuShawn Brooks’ two freebies gave the Penguins a 65-64 advantage with 2:24 left.

Two free throws from James Haarsma put Milwaukee back in front, but Perry tied the game with a free throw with 1:47 to play. After a defensive stop, Youngstown State wound the clock under a minute, but Milwaukee forced Perry into a contested three.

In the ensuing scrum, Ashen Ward came away with the ball and laid it in with 32.4 ticks left, putting YSU up 68-66.

Williams’ quick three out of a timeout came off the rim into Tony Meier’s hands, but Damian Eargle’s fourth block of the night was his biggest, preserving the win for YSU.

For much of the first half, it looked as if Blake Allen was going to carry the Penguins to victory by himself. Getting untracked midway through the half, Allen was a perfect 7-for-7 from the floor and 6-for-6 from three-point range, finishing with 19 points in the half and a career-high 27.

However, after going 8-for-13 from three-point range in the opening 20 minutes, Milwaukee limited YSU to a 1-for-6 effort in the second half, helping spur the comeback.

Ward finished the game with 13 points for Youngstown State, while Eargle added a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards. Haarsma chipped in 14 points for Milwaukee, with Paris Gulley and Allen recording 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Cleveland State 78, Green Bay 68
Cleveland State ensured that Sunday’s Horizon League game against Milwaukee would be well-watched, knocking off Green Bay, 78-68, to set up a first-place showdown in the League.

Cleveland State (16-4, 6-2 Horizon) moved into a three-way tie atop the League with Milwaukee and Valparaiso, while Green Bay (7-11, 3-5 Horizon) fell into a tie for eighth.

Leading 36-30 at the half, the Vikings took control of the game out of the locker room, using a 13-4 run over the first four minutes to assume a 15 point lead, 49-34, on Tim Kamczyc's layup with 16:29 to play. The lead swelled to as many as 18 points at the midway point of the second half and was 70-54 with just over four minutes to play.

However, a quick 14-4 spurt by Green Bay brought the Phoenix within 74-68 with 52 seconds left, fueled by Kam Cerroni’s hot shooting from outside, but the Vikings iced the game with two free throws each by Trey Harmon and Jeremy Montgomery down the stretch.

Before an ESPNU audience, Green Bay took a quick 6-2 lead, but a 17-7 run over an eight minute span gave the Vikings a 19-13 lead with 9:29 left in the half. Harmon and D’Aundray Brown had three-pointers and Luda Ndaye had a three-point play to cap the run.

CSU's lead swelled to 26-16 at the 6:44 mark before eight straight by the Phoenix pulled them within 26-24 with just under four minutes to play in the half.

But CSU answered with seven straight of their own to regain a nine point lead before settling for a six-point lead at the half.

Harmon led all scorers with 19 points, while Kamczyc, Mongomery and Anton Grady all finished in double figures. Grady notched his first career double-double with 10 points and 13 boards, helping Cleveland State outrebound Green Bay, 43-23.

Cerroni and Keifer Sykes shared team-high honors with 15 points apiece, while Steve Baker and Alec Brown added 12 and 10, respectively. The Phoenix were hampered by a 16-of-30 night at the free-throw line, while the Vikings finished 16-of-17 at the charity stripe.