Men's Basketball Final Shot: Feb. 5 - Efficiency

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 5)
Cleveland State 66, Youngstown State 60
Valparaiso 86, UIC 61

It was a night of extremes in the Horizon League on Tuesday. While a player who entered the night averaging 5.5 points per game went off for 23, Valparaiso continued its offensive tear at the expense of UIC.

Cleveland State 66, Youngstown State 60
Devon Long entered Tuesday night averaging 5.5 points per game. But against Youngstown State, the junior exploded for a career-high 23, leading Cleveland State to a 66-60 victory against its rivals from Northeast Ohio.

Cleveland State (12-12, 4-6 Horizon) won its second straight game and returned to .500 overall on the year. The victory gave Gary Waters his 134 since coming to Cleveland, moving him into a tie for ninth on the League’s all-time ledger; with 66 conference wins, Waters is 10^th overall.

The Vikings took a 30-23 lead into the half, but Youngstown State (13-10, 5-5 Horizon) would not go quietly, eventually taking a 36-35 led on a Bobby Hain layup just 5:47 into the second half.

The lead would change hands six more times in the half, but Long seemingly had an answer down the stretch, scoring nine of his 23 in the second half. Consecutive buckets gave the Vikings one-point leads each time, but D.J. Cole’s jumper with 6:17 remaining gave the Penguins a 48-47 edge.

However, Charlie Lee would knock down a three, and Bryn Forbes’ lone three of the game opened a 53-48 edge for Cleveland State; the five-point advantage was the largest for either team since the beginning of the half.

Youngstown State would draw within a single possession after a Blake Allen layup, but Junior Lomomba would come back with a jumper for the Vikings to restore a five-point edge.

Once again, the Penguins would draw within three, this time after Bobby Hain was fouled while hitting a jumper; however, the freshman missed the free throw, leaving it a 58-55 game with 2:14 to play.

Cleveland State would milk the clock, with Lee driving the lane as the shot clock wound down; stripped of the ball, the carom wound up in the hands of Sebastian Douglas, whose reverse layup just beat the shot clock to push the lead back to five.

Youngstown State would not come within a possession the rest of the way.

Douglas was one of a trio of Vikings who joined Long in double figures; the sophomore finished with 10 points, as did Lomomba and Lee.

Hain led Youngstown State with 15 points, going 7-of-9 in just 18 minutes. Allen continued to close in on the Penguin’s all-time three-point record, knocking down three to close within two of tying the career mark of 198; the senior finished with 14 points. Kamren Belin added 11.

Valparaiso 86, UIC 61
It took Valparaiso about three minutes to get going against UIC, but once the Crusaders hit their stride, they attacked visiting UIC with a ruthless efficiency, rolling past the Flames, 86-61, at the ARC.

Valparaiso (18-6, 8-2 Horizon) maintained its grip on first place in the Horizon League, going 30-for-50 from the floor and 15-for-26 from three-point range. In just 64 possessions, the Crusaders averaged 1.35 points per possession, recording an effective field-goal percentage of 75.0.

Ryan Broekhoff led the way with 22 points, thwarting UIC (14-10, 5-5 Horizon) in the first half with personal 8-0 and 9-0 runs.

The first snapped an early 7-7 deadlock, as Broekhoff sandwiched three-pointers around a jumper to give Valparaiso a lead it would not relinquish. After Broekhoff’s burst, it was Bobby Capobianco’s turn to star, as he recorded a layup and dunk as the Crusaders gradually pulled away in the first half.

Capobianco, seeing extended playing time as Kevin Van Wijk battled foul trouble all evening, nearly posted a triple-double, finishing with 10 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, frequently finding guards on the perimeter, and on this night, it seemed as if every shot was falling for the Crusaders.

Broekhoff certainly reinforced the notion, especially at the end of the first half. With Valparaiso leading 35-23, the senior drilled his third three of the half with 2:11 to go; a minute later he would connect on another, pushing the lead to 16, 41-25.

Following a Daniel Barnes jumper, Broekhoff took an inbounds pass from Capobianco and launched a 32-foot shot from the right side, finding nothing but the bottom of the net as the horn sounded on the half and sending the Crusaders into the locker room with a 44-27 lead.

Broekhoff and Ben Boggs helped seal the result early in the second half, hitting threes on consecutive possessions to extend the lead to 50-29 with 18:16 remaining.

Valparaiso would lead by as much as 35 in the second half as nine of 10 Crusaders who appeared in the game scored. Broekhoff finished with 22 in just 25 minutes, posting an efficiency-per-possession of 0.550. The senior was 8-of-13 from the floor and 6-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Chicago native LaVonte Dority added 13 points off the bench for the Crusaders, while Eric Buggs made it a quartet in double figures, matching Capobianco’s 10.

UIC struggled from the floor throughout the night, going 20-of-55 from the field; Josh Crittle and Daniel Barnes each had 12 points for the Flames.