Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 23)
Valparaiso 82, Eastern Kentucky 60
Milwaukee 95, IUPUI 88 (2ot)
Youngstown State 86, Central Michigan 75
Cleveland State 60, Western Illinois 54
#rv/rv Wichita State 94, Detroit 79
Evansville 70, Wright State 68
Bradley 63, UIC 62
Drake 71, Green Bay 54
Kent State 70, Loyola 63
In the final iteration of the Ramada BracketBusters, Valparaiso took a win on national television, while Milwaukee, Youngstown State and Cleveland State all collected non-conference victories.
Valparaiso 82, Eastern Kentucky 60
Valparaiso enjoyed its best shooting performance in over 15 years on Saturday, cruising to an 82-60 victory over Eastern Kentucky at the ARC in front of a national television audience on ESPNU as part of the Ramada BracketBusters series.
Valparaiso (22-7) shot 30-of-44 from the floor for the game, hitting 68.2-percent of their field goal attempts. The Crusaders went 15-of-23 from the floor in the first half before improving to 71.4 percent (15-of-21) from the field in the final 20 minutes. The Crusaders missed just four two-point field goal attempts on the afternoon (23-of-27) and hit all 12 of their attempts from inside the arc in the second half. It marked Valpo's top shooting performance since hitting at a 68.8-percent clip in a win over Northern Illinois in January of 1998.
The first half featured multiple runs both ways. Valpo came out with the first push of the game, opening the contest on an 11-2 run within the first three minutes as Will Bogan scored five early points and Kevin Van Wijk added a pair of quick baskets. Eastern Kentucky responded with eight points in a row over the next 2:30 to pull back within one point.
After the Colonels tied the game at 13, four different Crusaders scored as part of a 9-2 spurt to push the Valpo advantage up to 22-15 with 9:35 left in the first half. Valpo's lead was still seven points as the clock ticked under eight minutes, but EKU posted eight points in a row, including a four-point play from Timmy Knipp. A pair of free throws by Mike DiNunno with 5:32 remaining in the opening stanza gave the Colonels their first lead at 25-24.
The Crusaders responded by scoring on six of their next seven possessions as a 15-2 run gave them a double-figure lead. Ryan Broekhoff started the run with a driving layup, and two possessions later, Erik Buggs found LaVonte Dority for a three-pointer. Out of the under-four media stoppage, Ben Boggs made it back-to-back triples, knocking down a shot from long range out of the corner to make it 32-25.
The next time down the court, Boggs utilized a shot fake before connecting on an 18-footer from the baseline to make it 10 straight points for the Crusaders. After a pair of free throws from EKU, Dority converted while being fouled on the drive, finishing the old-fashioned three-point play, and following a turnover by the Colonels, Buggs drove inside for a layup to close out the 15-2 run with 1:43 left in the first half. DiNunno would score the final basket of the opening period to cut the Crusaders' halftime edge to 10 points at 39-29.
The Crusaders left little doubt as to the eventual result out of the locker room, as Broekhoff and Bogan hit 3-pointers within Valpo's first three possessions to push the lead to 16 points. Eastern Kentucky would close to within 11 points multiple times in the second half, but each time Valpo held the Colonels at bay. All 10 Crusaders contributed to Valpo's performance from the floor in the final 20 minutes, as all scored at least two points in a 43-point half while no single player attempted more than three shots.
Valpo featured a balanced performance from its lineup on Saturday, as nobody attempted more than six field goals, while all but one player had more points than field goal attempts. Bogan and Broekhoff shared team-high honors with 13 points each, Bogan knocking down a trio of 3-pointers as he scored in double figures for the fifth time in the last seven games and Broekhoff reaching double digits despite playing just 20 minutes.
Dority added 12 points off the bench, while Van Wijk went 5-of-5 from the field in an 11-point effort and Boggs went 4-of-5 en route to 10 points as five players scored in double figures. Boggs also led the Crusaders with seven rebounds and Vashil Fernandez added six caroms as Valpo out-rebounded EKU, 36-22. Buggs handed out a game-high five assists.
Corey Walden led Eastern Kentucky (22-7) with 20 points. DiNunno contributed 19 points and Eric Stutz added 10 points. The Colonels shot just 32.8-percent (20-of-61) from the field and were just 7-of-26 (26.9 percent) from behind the 3-point line.
Milwaukee 95, IUPUI 88 (2ot)
Milwaukee put four players in double figures and scored the final nine points of the second overtime to claim a 95-88 win over IUPUI Saturday afternoon at The Jungle.
Milwaukee (8-22) took the lead for good on an Austin Arians three-point play with 2:41 remaining and then added four free throws along with a Paris Gulley layin to hang on for their first road win of the season.
Jordan Aaron, who played all 50 minutes of the game, scored 28 points to go with six assists to lead Milwaukee. Demetrius Harris added 21 points and Gulley 20, while Harris also had nine rebounds, three steals and two blocks. J.J. Panoske had 11 points.
Greg Rice scored 23 points and Sean Esposito 22 for IUPUI (6-23).
Each team took turns making big shots to extend the game. Esposito's three-pointer with under a minute to play in regulation tied the game at 77. Then, Aaron's driving layin with 14 seconds left in the first overtime knotted the game at 86.
Milwaukee struggled to slow IUPUI offensively but came through when it counted. The Jaguars made just 5-of-17 shots from the field in the two overtime periods and didn't score over the final 4:36 of the game.
Offensively, the Panthers hit nine three-pointers in the first half and then pounded the ball inside to Harris in the second half.
The Panthers rode some hot three-point shooting to a four-point halftime lead. Milwaukee led pretty much the entire way in the first half, building a 16-11 lead on a Panoske three before pushing the edge to 28-21 on a three-pointer by Gulley.
The advantage eventually grew to 34-23 when Aaron hit his fifth 3-pointer of the half before IUPUI rallied. The Jaguars closed to within 35-31 on a layin by Mitchell Patton and it was 37-33 at the break.
Milwaukee restored a seven-point lead early in the second half before IUPUI rallied to take a 48-47 lead on an Esposito layin with 14:28 remaining. The Panthers again went back up six points but the Jaguars answered with a 7-0 run for a 57-56 led. IUPUI eventually led by as many as four points before Milwaukee fought back to restore a four-point lead of its own, going up 75-71 with 1:45 left.
IUPUI answered again, tying the game at 77 on a P.J. Hubert three with 53 seconds remaining, and Milwaukee then missed two shots in the final minute, sending the game to overtime.
Both teams held slim leads in the first overtime session before Esposito made a three-pointer with 37 seconds left to put IUPUI up 86-84. But Aaron responded with a layin with 14.6 seconds remaining to tie the game at 86 before Rice missed a challenged layin just before the buzzer.
IUPUI then scored the first basket of the second overtime with 4:36 remaining but would never score again as Milwaukee pulled away to claim the win.
Youngstown State 86, Central Michigan 75
On Senior Night, Blake Allen tied for team-high scoring honors, posting 20 points along with Kamre Beling as Youngstown State defeated Central Michigan, 86-75, at the Beeghly Center.
Allen and fellow senior Damian Eargle closed out their careers with a victory in their final regular-season home tilt. Youngstown State (16-12) closed the year with a 10-4 mark at the Beeghly Center, though the Penguins will host a home game in the Horizon League Tournament.
YSU opened up a 17-point advantage in the first half before extending its lead to 51-27 in the opening minute of the second half. Central Michigan kept trying to chip away at the deficit and was able to creep within seven points on three occasions, but could get no closer.
The Guins led 45-27 at halftime before Allen and Ryan Weber drained consecutive three-pointers at the second-halfs outset. CMU scored the next 12 points to get within 51-39 by the 16:17 mark of the second half.
From that point, YSU did a good job of not allowing the Chippewas to make another major run to make things to tight. CMU did pull within seven points on three occasions, the last 72-65 at the 3:03 mark of the contest.
Eargle battled foul trouble all evening and eventually left the contest with 1:06 left. He scored 10 points after missing the past two games with a broken nose.
DJ Cole had his first career double-double scoring 12 points and dishing out a career-best 12 assists. The Guins had 23 assists on 30 baskets. In his first career start, Ryan Weber had nine points, all came on three 3-pointers.
Leading the way for Central Michigan was Chris Fowler who finished with 19 points. Kyle Randall had 17 and John Simons finished with 16 for CMU.
For the game, YSU shot a season-high 60 percent from the field making 30-of-50 shots. YSU was 9-of-18 from behind the 3-point line. CMU shot 42.6 percent (23-of-54) for the evening.
The Penguins trailed 5-4 at the 18:06 mark and eventually built a 24-9 lead with 9:21 remaining thanks to a 20-5 spurt.
YSU made 16 of its first 21 shots in the contest. The Penguins's biggest lead of the game was 40-23 at the 3:28 mark following a layup by Cole.
All five YSU starters had six points or more in the opening half. For the first half, YSU shot 69.2 percent (18-of-26) while the Chippewas were 10-of-25 (40 percent). Both teams shot 50 percent from 3-point range with YSU making five and CMU four.
Cleveland State 60, Western Illinois 54
Bryn Forbes and Charlie Lee each scored 16 points as Cleveland State shot 55-percent from the field in the second half to claim a 60-54 win at Western Illinois in a Ramada BracketBuster at Western Hall.
Cleveland State (14-16) picked up its third road win of the year at the expense of Western Illinois (19-7), who came into the game with a 10-1 mark at home this season and were second in the nation in scoring defense, giving up 52.2 points per game.
Forbes hit 6-of-8 attempts from the field, including both of his three-pointers, and added four rebounds. Lee added five assists, his 16th game with at least five assists this season, and three rebounds.
Junior Lomomba had another strong performance off the bench, hitting 4-of-5 from the field for eight points. He added three assists, two steals and two rebounds. Tim Kamczyc also had eight points and three rebounds.
Adam Link led the Leathernecks with 15 points, while Terell Park finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Leathernecks, who are in second place in the Summit League with an 11-3 mark, jumped out quickly to a 15-4 lead seven and a half minutes in. But the Vikings did not let them extend the lead, staying close and pulling back within 17-12 on a Forbes jumper with eight minutes left.
The teams continued to trade baskets until a Don McAvoy three-pointer gave WIU an eight-point advantage (27-19) with 3:24 to play. However, Lee answered with back-to-back three-pointers and after a Parks jumper, Forbes found Kamczyc for a layup just before the final buzzer, cutting CSU's deficit to 29-27 at the half.
CSU opened the second half on a 14-4 run to take an eight point advantage, 41-33, on back-to-back buckets from Lomomba. The Vikings would not relinquish the lead the remainder of the night, answering every time WIU pulled back within two points and knocking down 7-of-9 free throws in the final seconds to ice the win.
The Vikings shot 48.9-percent (22-for-45) for the game and made nine steals.
#rv/rv Wichita State 94, Detroit 79
Detroit’s second half surge came up short as the Titans fell, 94-79, to Wichita State at Charles Koch Arena as part of Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters on ESPN2.
Wichita State (24-5) led at the half, 46-35, before Detroit (18-10) trimmed the lead to 70-67 with 11:20 remaining. But the Shockers closed the game with 24-12 run, including eight straight free throws down the stretch.
Ray McCallum led the Titans with a game-high 29 points, while senior Nick Minnerath, the Horizon League Co-Player of the Week, finished with 25 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Classmate Doug Anderson pitched in 11 points, while Evan Bruinsma added nine with six rebounds.
Detroit opened the game with a 7-2 burst, opening with a reverse dunk from Anderson, before the Shockers answered back with an 8-2 run to take a 10-9 lead with 12:40 left. The Titans then regained the lead on their ensuing possession on a three-pointer from Minnerath, but that lead didn't last long as Cleanthony Early responded with a three of his own to put the Shockers up 13-12.
Detroit would take the lead again, 14-13, before the Shockers put together an 18-5 run to build a 31-19 lead with just over five minutes remaining in the first half. The Titans answered back with a pair of baskets from Minnerath to trim the lead to 37-29 with four minutes left, before the Shockers closed the half with a 9-4 run until, McCallum drained a jumper as time expired to make the score 46-35 at halftime.
Minnerath led the Titans with 12 points, while McCallum had nine. Wichita State shot 55.9 percent in the first half, while the Titans shot 41.9 percent.
The Titans opened the second half with a 10-4 run, highlighted by a pair of three-pointers by McCallum and Minnerath, to pull within five, 50-45.
The Shcockers extended their lead back to 10, but McCallum brought UDM back within five on a three-point play and a dunk to make it 52-57 with 14:37 remaining. Detroit continued the run with a pair of three's from Minnerath and McCallum to pull within one, 63-62 with 12:39 left in the game.
Wichita State answered back with a 22-10 run to extend the lead back out to 13 with just over five minutes left in the game. The Shockers hit their final six free-throws down the stretch to bring the final tally at 94-79.
Evansville 70, Wright State 58
Evansville jumped out to a 17-3 lead at Wright State and the Raiders could never recover in a 70-58 loss at the Nutter Center.
Wright State (18-10) got a career-high 20 points from JT Yoho, including 16 in the first half, but the Raiders could not climb out of their early hole.
Colt Ryan, a Wright State recruit before choosing Evansville (16-13), scored a game-high 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting. D.J. Balentine added 18. The freshman was 7-12 overall while knocking down four 3-pointers
Evansville opened the game on a 9-0 run, extending the advantage to 13-2 as Wright State was 0-11 to begin the game with three turnovers. The Aces continued to add to the lead before Jerran Young hit the first bucket of the game for the Raiders to make it a 17-5 game.
With Evansville up 21-7, Wright State made its move, hitting six out of seven shots to cut the gap to 21-16 as part of a 9-0 run. Balentine put a quick end to that as he led an 8-0 rally, hitting a layup and two threes to put UE back up 29-16. Once again, Wright State fought back with an 11-3 run to get back within five, but Evansville came back as Balentine hit another three with five seconds remaining to send UE to the half up 39-28.
Yoho led everyone with 16 points in the first half while Balentine had 11. The Aces shot 53.6 percent (15-for-28) while holding Wright State to 30.3%.
Wright State came out on fire to start the second half. After Balentine opened up the second-half scoring, the Raiders posted eight straight after a pair of threes, cutting the gap to five for the third time. Evansville had the answer once again, hitting three buckets in a row to end the run. Lewis Jones hit a pair of pivotal buckets in the run, which got him into double figures for the game.
Evansville would match its largest lead of 14 at 59-45 inside of seven minutes left but the Raiders would once again fail to give up. They got back into single digits, but the potential dagger came at the 4-minute mark as Balentine connected on his fourth trey to give the Aces a 14-point advantage, 64-50. Six straight from Ryan sealed the game as UE went up by 18 and would settle for the 70-58 win.
Jerran Young tallied 11 while Kendall Griffin finished the day with 10.
Bradley 63, UIC 62
UIC led for more than 32 minutes, including the first 18 minutes of the second half, but Bradley escaped with a 63-62 win over the Flames at the Pavilion. Bradley’s Jake Eastman converted a put-back with just one second remaining; erasing what was a double-digit for the Flames in the second half.
With the loss, the Flames dropped to 15-13 on the season. Bradley improves to 16-13 overall. Daniel Barnes scored a team-high 18 points on seven field goals, and was joined in double figures by Marc Brown (13 points). Bradley’s Walt Lemon Jr. led all scorers with 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting.
UIC led 54-43 with 5:41 remaining, but didn’t convert another field goal until the 1:57 mark. During that stretch, Bradley went on a 14-4 run to claim a one-point lead, 59-58, with 2:13 remaining. The Braves corralled eight offensive rebounds in the final 3:53, leading to eight points.
Gary Talton continued his late-game heroics, converting a spinning layup with 37.8 seconds remaining to give UIC a 62-61 lead. But Eastman converted the game-winner after UIC failed to squeeze a pair of defensive rebounds.
Brown blocked Dyricus Simms-Edwards’ shot with 20 seconds left, but Simms Edwards tracked down his own miss. Lemon Jr. then missed a contested perimeter jumper from the right wing, but Shayok Shayok grabbed the carom after a scrum on the floor – he dished the ball off to Eastman, who laid the ball in from the right baseline. Talton’s last second half-court shot did not draw iron.
UIC led 30-23 at halftime after going on an 8-1 run to end the frame. Jake Wiegand gave the Flames a lift off the bench during the spurt, scoring six points in a 2:30 span. Barnes scored 12 points in the first half, bolstered by a pair of three-pointers. Lemon Jr. had seven first half points to lead Bradley’s offensive effort.
The Flames opened the second half on a 9-3 run, claiming a 39-27 lead with 16:56 left. Bradley pulled within four points four times in the ensuing 8:56, but the Flames went back up by 11, 54-43, with 5:41 remaining after senior center Josh Crittle converted a conventional three-point play. The Braves out-scored UIC 20-8 down the stretch to preserve the last-second win.
Drake 71, Green Bay 54
Green Bay went cold in the second half, as Drake knocked down nine three-pointers as both teams bid adieu to the BracketBusters with a 71-54 Bulldog victory at the Knapp Center.
Keifer Sykes and Brennan Cougill each scored 12 points to lead Green Bay (15-13), who saw its three-game winning streak snapped in the non-conference finale. Jordan Fouse grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to break the program’s single-season freshman record, which was set by Dennis Woeffler (209) in 1969-70, the first season in history.
Green Bay jumped out to a quick start, with Cougill scoring eight points and knocking down two three-pointers in the first seven minutes to put the Phoenix in front 17-7 at the 13:19 mark.
Drake would respond with some hot shooting from the arc late in the half from Ben Simons, who scored 11 of his game-high 16 points in the opening half. Simons, who was 6-of-10 from the field and made four from long range, drained a triple at the end of the first half for a 37-35 halftime lead.
Simons made another three on the first possession of the opening half, jumpstarting a 16-5 run that gave Drake a double figure lead, 53-40, at the 14:35 mark. Green Bay would not get the deficit into single digits for the rest of the night.
After shooting 46.7 percent in the first 20 minutes, the Phoenix hit just 6-of-29 shots from the field after halftime for 20.7 percent. Green Bay was 0-of-8 from long range in the second half, finishing 4-for-20 from three.
Kent State 70, Loyola 63
Christian Thomas poured in a career-best 31 points and also collected 11 rebounds for his sixth double double of the year, but Kent State rallied from an 11-point first-half deficit to record a 70-63 victory over Loyola at Gentile Arena.
Thomas' 31 points were the most by a Rambler since Ben Averkamp totaled 31 in a win at Toledo on December 10, 2011.
Jordan Hicks scored six straight points to cap Loyola's (14-14) game-opening 20-9 run, which also featured nine points from Thomas, who converted 8-of-11 shots from the field in the opening 20 minutes. Kent State slowly began its climb back into the game when Kris Brewer drilled a three-pointer to spark a 29-13 run that gave the Golden Flashes a 38-33 lead at the half.
Loyola got within four points when Thomas drained a pair of foul shots with a 15:41 remaining in the game, but Kent State responded by running off seven straight points, the last two coming on a dunk by Mark Henniger, as the Flashes extended their lead to 49-38.
The Ramblers closed the gap to six points on a few occasions, and when Thomas hit a pair of free throws with 1:53 left to play to make it 64-58, the Ramblers were holding out hopes for another second-half comeback. However, a Chris Evans layup followed by free throws from Brewer and Evans pushed the KSU advantage back to double digits.
Loyola made things interesting in the final 30 seconds, nearly completing a miraculous comeback. Three free throws by Thomas and a layup by Joe Crisman cut the KSU lead to 68-63 with 12 seconds showing on the clock, but after a turnover by the Golden Flashes, Loyola was unable to connect on a three-pointer and Randal Holt added two free throws to provide the final score.
Thomas shattered his previous career high by eight points and corralled 11 rebounds for his sixth double double of the year. Devon Turk pitched in 10 points and Hicks added eight points and seven boards for the Ramblers, who shot just 37 percent from the field in the second half after knocking down 54 percent of their attempts in the first period.
Evans led Kent State with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
