Men's Basketball Final Shot: Dec. 22

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 22)
Loyola 54, St. Peter’s 49
Green Bay 72, South Dakota 55
Valparaiso 79, Purdue-Calumet 51
#11/11 Cincinnati 68, Wright State 58
Miami (Ohio) 82, UIC 70
Wisconsin 74, Milwaukee 53

Loyola, Green Bay and Valparaiso went into the Christmas holiday on high notes, collecting wins on Saturday. Wright State hung tough with No. 11 Cincinnati, while UIC and Milwaukee each dropped road contests.

Loyola 54, Saint Peter’s 49
After a late arrival in Jersey City, N.J., Ben Averkamp scored a team-high 17 points and hit all 13 of his attempts from the free throw line as Loyola shook off a slow start and overcame an 11-point, second-half deficit to earn a 54-49 victory over host Saint Peter's at the Yanitelli Center.

Loyola (8-3) won its sixth game in the last seven outings, besting its win total from the 2011-12 season in the process.

Both teams struggled in the first half as neither was able to get into much of an offensive rhythm due to the physical nature of the game, as neither team built a lead of more than six points. Loyola trailed 17-11 but a pair of free throws by Averkamp and a three-pointer by Jeff White at the buzzer sent the Ramblers into the locker room down by only one, 17-16.

Saint Peter's opened the second period by scoring on its first six possessions as part of a half-opening 20-10 run that pushed the Peacocks' lead to 37-26. Loyola slowly chipped away at the deficit and an old-fashioned three-point play by Devon Turk brought the Ramblers within 44-43 with 5:04 to play.

Following a three-minute scoreless stretch in the game, Joe Crisman’s basket gave Loyola a 45-44 lead, its first since an 11-10 advantage midway through the first half. After the Peacocks evened the score, a Cully Payne free throw with 40 seconds remaining gave the Ramblers the lead for good and down the stretch, Loyola connected on 8-of-10 attempts from the charity stripe to earn its eighth win of the season.

Loyola, which connected on 23-of-31 tries from the charity stripe, limited Saint Peter's to just two field goals in the final eight minutes and held the hosts to 39 percent (21-for-54) shooting for the game.

Averkamp added five rebounds to his 17 points and Crisman notched a season-high 12 points, hitting all five of his shots from the field, to lead Loyola, which also benefited from nine points and eight rebounds from Christian Thomas.

Yvon Raymond posted 17 points to lead Saint Peter's.

Green Bay 72, South Dakota 55
Fresh off its win over Marquette earlier in the week, Green Bay suffered no let down in a 72-55 rout of visiting South Dakota at the Resch Center.

Green Bay (5-7) put forth its most complete effort of the year, as Alec Brown led the Phoenix with 18 points and eight rebounds. Keifer Sykes finished with 17 points and eight assists, giving him 13 over the last two games.

The Phoenix shot 56.5 percent from the field, making 26-of-46 attempts including six three-pointers and was 14-of-20 from the free-throw line.

Brown scored Green Bay's first seven points to give the Phoenix a 7-2 lead early, but South Dakota responded with a 15-4 run to open a 17-11 lead at the halfway point of the first half.

However, the Phoenix took over from there, outscoring South Dakota 24-8 to take a 35-25 lead at halftime and never trailed again.

Kam Cerroni and Brown each hit three-pointers in the 24-8 run, with Brown’s opening a 24-19 Green Bay edge with just under five minutes to go in the first half. Sykes and Jordan Fouse would each convert three-point plays to cap the burst.

South Dakota would come no closer than nine points in the second half, as another Sykes three-point play opened a 12-point Phoenix lead early in the half.

Green Bay led by as much as 22 points down the stretch. Sultan Muhammed came off the bench to add 10 points for the Phoenix, who dressed just eight players for the third straight game.

Valparaiso 79, Purdue-Calumet 51
Valparaiso led by double figures for the last 28 minutes in cruising to a 79-51 victory over Purdue Calumet at the Athletics-Recreation Center in its final game prior to Christmas.

Valparaiso (9-4) improved to a perfect 7-0 at home this season, with all seven wins coming by double figures. The Crusaders played without senior Ryan Broekhoff, who missed his first career game to rest a nagging ankle injury.

Purdue Calumet, an NAIA institution playing the game as an exhibition contest, scored the first basket of the game, but Valpo quickly claimed the lead for good with 10 straight points.  All five buckets over the stretch of 3:30 came in the paint, including two each by Ben Boogs and Bobby Capobianco, the latter making the first start of his Crusader career.

The Crusaders’ lead moved into double figures for the first time off of back-to-back fast-break baskets by Jordan Coleman and Matt Kenney, giving Valpo a 14-4 lead with 14:03 to play in the first half. Purdue-Calumet would move within six points multiple times over the next few minutes, but a triple by fifth-year Will Bogan with 8:12 remaining in the stanza pushed the lead to 27-15, and the advantage stayed in double figures the rest of the way.

The Crusaders then used a 9-0 spurt over the final 2:21 of the first half to claim a 49-25 lead at the intermission. LaVonte Dority started the run with a pair of free throws, and two trips later, Vashil Fernandez converted an inside basket. Alex Rossi connected on a 3-pointer with 37 seconds remaining in the half, and then following a Capobianco blocked shot on the defensive end, Kenney took the ball coast-to-coast, laying it in at the buzzer.

The lead dipped below 20 points just once in the second half, as the Peregrines’ Drew Ridlen knocked down a 3-pointer with 9:48 to go to bring Purdue Calumet within 62-43. But Bogan and Dority combined for all 12 Crusader points in a 12-3 run over the next four minutes to push the lead back out to its apex at 28 points.

Dority led the Crusaders in the scoring column for the third time in his four games, going 10-of-12 from the foul line en route to 19 points. The junior also handed out a team-high four assists. Bogan was 4-of-6 from downtown and ended the afternoon with 14 points, while Boggs matched his season high of 12 points and Kevin Van Wijk added 10 points and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes.

Capobianco matched Van Wijk on the glass with seven rebounds, while Fernandez chipped in six caroms as well. Coleman came away with four steals, leading the way as Valpo totaled a season-best 16 steals and forced 22 Peregrine turnovers in all. Offensively, the Crusaders shot better than 50% in both halves and hit at a 54.9% (28-of-51) clip for the game.

Purdue-Calumet got 16 points from Warren Gordon, but he was the only Peregrine to end the game in double figures. Jamie Burkhard added six points and seven rebounds off the bench, while Noah Allen came away with four steals.

#11/11 Cincinnati 68, Wright State 58
Wright State led by eight early in the second half, but could not pull off the upset as No. 11/11 Cincinnati used a 23-4 run in winning 68-58 at Fifth Third Arena.

Wright State (8-4) struggled from the outset, failing to hit a field goal until Cole Darling hit a three to tie the game at 8-8 with 13:01 remaining in the first half and its second field goal, a Reggie Arceneaux three, put the Raiders up 12-11 at the 11:08 mark.

Another triple, this time by JT Yoho, gave Wright State a 15-11 edge and the Raiders took a 28-22 halftime lead by closing out the period with an 8-2 run over the final five minutes.

Both teams struggled offensively in the opening 20 minutes as WSU hit just eight of 31 shots for 26 percent while UC was nine of 37 for 24 percent.

A Tavares Sledge layup to start the second half extended the Raider advantage to eight before Cincinnati answered with a 10-0 run to regain the lead. Yoho again put WSU in front with a three, but the Bearcats followed with another big run, this time 13-1, to push the margin into double figures.

Jerran Young hit a three from the left corner to make it 45-38 with 11:51 remaining and Wright State cut the deficit to seven on two other occasions, but could get no closer.

Cincinnati shot 38-percent overall compared to 32 percent for WSU and the Bearcats finished with a 49-38 rebounding advantage as they led 25-9 in second-chance points and 36-18 in points in the paint.

Young posted a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace the Raiders while Yoho added 13. Overall, Wright State led 32-16 in bench scoring.

JaQuon Parker led undefeated Cincinnati with 21 points while Sean Kilpatrick had 12 and Titus Rubles 11.

Miami (Ohio) 82, UIC 70
UIC men's basketball team shot 47.2 percent from the floor, its most efficient effort in the past seven games, but dropped an 82-70 decision versus host Miami University at Millett Hall.

UIC (9-3) allowed Miami to shoot 56.6 percent from the field and forced the Flames into a season-high 19 turnovers.

The Flames placed five players in double figures, led by Gary Talton’s 15 points. For the second-straight game, Joey Miller recorded a double-digit scoring output, chipping in 11 points off the bench. Miami was led by Will Sullivan, who scored a game-high 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting.

Miami built a 39-28 halftime lead after converting 16 field goals and shooting 50 percent from the field. Clinging to a one-point (8-7) lead, the RedHawks went on a 12-2 run to claim a 20-9 lead, and force UIC into its first timeout. Miami hit two-of its five first-half threes during the spurt. Talton and Josh Crittle combined for a quick 6-0 run to slice the RedHawks' lead to just 20-15, but Miami countered with a 12-3 run to claim its first double-digit advantage, 32-20, of the half with 4:46 remaining.

Marc Brown and Crittle scored on back-to-back possessions in the final four-minute segment, and the Flames forced three-straight defensive stops. But Miami ended the half on a 7-4 run, bolstered by a buzzer-beating three from Will Felder, to extend its lead back to 39-28 heading into the locker room at halftime.

UIC quickly sliced Miami's lead to 42-36 just 2:03 into the second half, beginning a trend that saw the RedHawks' advantage fluctuate between six and 13 points for nearly the entire frame - UIC was within six or seven points on 10 times.

With 5:21 remaining, the Flames were within 67-60 with possession of the basketball, but turned the ball over. The RedHawks scored the next four points and never looked back, eventually building a game-high 14-point lead with 4:59 left.

Wisconsin 74, Milwaukee 53
Despite a strong start to the night, Milwaukee’s offensive woes continued, as the Panthers shot 30.4 percent in the first half en route to a 74-53 loss to Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.

Paris Gulley had 16 points and J.J. Panoske 13 for Milwaukee (3-10), which seemed to break out of its extended offensive slump by making 15-of-27 shots in the second half.

But, the outcome was decided in the first half. The Panthers held an early 10-8 lead but Wisconsin scored 37 of the next 46 points to take control of the game.

Panoske added six rebounds, three blocks and two steals in his 27 minutes of play, easily the most extended run of the season for the redshirt freshman. Jordan Aaron also added seven assists in directing the Milwaukee offense, with six of them coming after halftime.

Traevon Jackson added 13 points and Jared Berggren 11 for Wisconsin (8-4), which was led by Ryan Evans’ 19.

Milwaukee's early 10-8 lead came on the strength of seven points from Gulley and a three-pointer by Panoske. The Badgers responded with the next 14 points, though, and then led 32-15 on a pair of free throws by Evans. The lead eventually grew to 41-18 at the half and 45-18 early in the second half.

The Panthers did continue to battle, though, pulling within 49-32 on a three-pointer by Panoske and to within 63-46 on a layin by Austin Arians. UWM actually got even closer when another three by Panoske made it 65-49, but the Badgers added one final surge to put the game away.