Loyola, Valpo Collect Sunday Afternoon Wins

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 18)
Loyola 62, Maryland-Eastern Shore 46
Valparaiso 88, Kent State 83 (ot)
Cal State Fullerton 93, Green Bay 82

For the eighth consecutive night, Horizon League men’s basketball teams posted a winning day, as Loyola and Valparaiso collected victories. On all eight dates in which multiple League teams have played, the teams have been at .500 or better. Collectively, the Horizon League is 22-9 through the first two weekends of the year.

Loyola 62, Maryland-Eastern Shore 46
Playing just 14 hours after Saturday’s game and its third game in as many days, Loyola ground out a 62-46 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore to close the USF Invitational in Tampa, Fla.

Ben Averkamp scored 27 points for Loyola (3-2), grabbing eight rebounds to become the 19^th player in Ramblers’ history to total 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. Averkamp stuffed the box score, rating out to a 0.632 efficiency-per-possession.

Trailing early in the second half, Loyola used a game-changing 20-2 run in the second half to take control of the contest. With the score tied at 34 midway through the second half, a pair of foul shots by Christian Thomas started the decisive run which featured 11 points from Averkamp and seven from Thomas, as the Ramblers opened up a 54-36 lead.

Thomas finished with nine points and six rebounds for Loyola, which shot 55 percent in the second half.

The early start and third game in as many days led to a sluggish first period on both sides as the teams combined to convert just 17-of-50 shots from the field. Despite putting up a 14-0 edge on points in the paint, the Ramblers took 10 three-point field goals and knocked down only one of those long-range attempts in the opening half as UMES took a 21-19 lead into the locker room at the break.

Neither team knocked down a shot from the field in the final 4:56 of the half, with the only point in that stretch coming on a free throw by Ishaq Pitt.

Valparaiso 88, Kent State 83 (ot)
Down late after leading most of the way, Valparaiso got a late break to force overtime, where the Crusaders controlled the extra frame to knock of host Kent State, 88-83.

Valparaiso (3-1) led throughout the game before  Kent State rallied late, taking a 75-72 lead with 7.2 second remaining. Erik Buggs was fouled before the Crusaders could attempt a game-tying three-pointer.

Buggs made the first free throw, but his second came off the iron, where Valparaiso tipped it around before Kevin Van Wijk grabbed a hold of it on the right block. Van Wijk’s layup with 1.2 second remaining sent the contest into overtime.

The Crusaders controlled the extra five minutes, beginning with layups from Matt Kenney and Buggs. Buggs gave Valpo an 82-75 lead with 2:05 to play after getting to the free throw line. Valpo went 4-for-4 at the charity stripe in the last minute to seal the game.

With a total of 59 fouls in the game, both teams went to the free throw line frequently. Valparaiso went 34-of-41, compared to a 30-for-40 effort from Kent State. More importantly, Valpo’s free-throw rate of 79.1 percent dwarfed the 54.5 mark of Kent State.

Van Wijk led the Crusaders with 25 points, controlling the low block and getting to the free throw line, where he was 13-for-14. A balanced effort saw three more Crusaders reach double figures, with Matt Kenney adding 16, while Ryan Broekhoff and Buggs each had 15.

Valparaiso led the entire game until the 5:29 mark, as Kent State clawed back from an eight-point halftime deficit.

Cal State Fullerton 93, Green Bay 82
Green Bay dug itself a massive hole, falling behind by 26 points before a second-half rally fell short in a 93-82 loss to Cal State Fullerton in the last game of the World Vision Classic in Reno, Nev.

Playing less than 24 hours after suffering a heart-breaking 71-69 loss to Nevada, Green Bay (2-2) struggled from the field in the opening 20 minutes, going 9-for-29 from the floor. The Phoenix were 1-of-11 from three-point range in the half, which was made worse by Fullerton’s 7-for-13 mark from long range.

The Titans were 15-for-27 in the first half, as they put Green Bay behind, 48-30, at the intermission.

Trailing 68-46 with 12:54 to play, Green Bay found its legs late, cutting the gap to 14 after a three from Sultan Muhammad and free throws from Alec Brown.

Fullerton pushed the lead back to 77-61, but the Phoenix rallied once more, as another Muhammad three made it 79-69 with 5:38 to play. Free throws by Keifer Sykes after a Jordan Fouse layup made it a two-possession game.

Continuing its run, a Brown jumper and Muhammad layup brought Green Bay within 81-77 with 2:56 to go.

However, Fullerton blunted Green Bay’s momentum, as Kwame Vaughn’s three-point play moved the Titans’ lead to seven, 84-77. Vaughn finished the day with 29 points, as he was 8-for-10 from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 from the line.

Muhammad missed a three on the Phoenix’s next possession, and Green Bay was not able to come within six points the rest of the way.

Brown led the Phoenix with 20 points, going 5-of-10 from the floor and 10-for-14 at the free-throw line. Fouse enjoyed the most productive day of his freshman season with 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists, while Muhammad had 11 points off the bench.