Men's Basketball Championship Tips Off Tuesday Night

2011 Men's Basketball Championship Bracket

After a historic regular season, the four teams will continue on the path towards a bid to the NCAA Tournament after tonight, as the Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship gets underway with four games this evening.  Cleveland State hosts UIC, while Wright State welcomes Green Bay.  Youngstown State travels to Valparaiso, with Detroit meeting Loyola.  All games tip off at 7 p.m. local time on HorizonLeague.com.

In the 3-10 matchup, regular season co-champions Cleveland State (24-7,13-5 Horizon) take on UIC (7-23, 2-16 Horizon) at the Wolstein Center.  Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Norris Cole leads the Vikings up against Robo Kreps, Paul Carter and the Flames.  Cleveland State swept the season series, last taking a 63-49 win at the UIC Pavilion on Jan. 27.  When the two teams met at the Wolstein Center on Jan. 1, the Vikings blitzed UIC, 83-59.

On the same side of the bracket, sixth-seeded Wright State (18-13, 10-6 Horizon) meets No.7 seed Green Bay (14-17, 8-10 Horizon), in a rematch of two of the best games in the Horizon League this season.  The Raiders swept the Phoenix, providing the difference between the teams in the final League standings.  Wright State's first win over Green Bay came on Jan. 1, when First Team All-League pick Vaughn Duggins raced down the court and nailed a three as time expired to lift the Raiders to a 67-64 win at the WSU Nutter Center.  On Jan. 28, Green Bay led by six late in the game before Wright State closed the contest on an 8-0 run, getting the game-winning layup from N'Gai Evans with just a few ticks left on the clock in a 63-61 victory at the Resch Center.

Finishing just a game out of first place in the League, No. 4 Valparaiso (21-10, 12-6 Horizon) welcomes No. 9 Youngstown State (9-20, 2-16 Horizon) to the ARC, where Homer Drew and Jerry Slocum each hold 638 career victories, knotting them in sixth place on the Division I active wins chart.  That tie will be broken at 8 p.m. ET tonight, with the Crusaders emerging with two wins in the regular season.

On Jan. 7, Valparaiso used a big push at the end of the first half to win comfortably at home, 79-55, over the Penguins.  However, Youngstown State pushed then-League leading Valpo to the wire at the Beeghly Center, taking the Crusaders to overtime in an eventual 86-78 defeat.  The loss was part of a stretch where the Penguins played all six teams at the top of the League standings, coming within a few possessions of victories against five of the teams.

The game at the bottom of the bracket renews Jesuit rivalries between fifth-seeded Detroit (16-15, 8-10 Horizon) and eighth-seeded Loyola (16-14, 7-11 Horizon).  In both regular season meetings, the Titans' physicality wore down the Ramblers, who dropped 12 and 10-point decisions at home and on the road, respectively.  Both teams appeared to be playing its best basketball down the stretch, as Detroit went to the WSU Nutter Center and knocked off Wright State, 77-67, to claim the No. 5 seed.  Loyola won three of its last four contests, routing Valparaiso, 68-48, on Thursday, before dropping a seven-point game at Butler to close the regular season.