Men's Basketball Final Shot: Feb. 7 - A Night of Thrillers

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 7)
Youngstown State 60, Loyola 59
Detroit 82, Milwaukee 74
Wright State 70, Green Bay 68 (2OT)

It may have been the night of the year in Horizon League men’s basketball. All three games came down to the final minute, with both Youngstown State and Wright State winning in the waning seconds and Detroit holing off a pesky Milwaukee squad.

Youngstown State 60, Loyola 59
Blake Allen drained a three-pointer with 10.3 seconds left to lift Youngstown State to a 60-59 win over a short-handed Loyola squad at the Beeghly Center.

Allen’s three capped a back-and-forth final few minutes, and when Jeff White’s driving layup came hard off the rim, Youngstown State (14-10, 6-5 Horizon) had moved into a tie for fourth place in the Horizon League.

The Penguins led by 14, but watched as a Loyola (13-11, 3-8 Horizon) squad playing with just seven letterwinners battle back in the second half behind a 50-percent shooting effort.

The Ramblers kept chipping away throughout the second half before finally overtaking the Penguins at 50-48 on a White basket with 6:20 left. YSU eventually tied the game at 50 on a 16-footer by D.J. Cole with 4:55 remaining.

Thirty-one seconds later Christian Thomas converted two free throws to put the Ramblers in front 52-50 and the Guins had to play catch-up the rest of the night.

Loyola had its biggest lead of the game, 54-50, with 3:42 remaining after two more free throws by Thomas. Damian Eargle split a pair of free throws and then Kendrick Perry knocked down two to pull within 54-53 at the 2:57 mark.

Thomas pushed the advantage back to three on a dunk after executing a perfect pick-and-roll with 2:04 remaining. DJ Cole had an opportunity to tie, but his 3-pointer with 90 seconds left was in and out and Loyola grabbed the board.

Loyola's Matt O'Leary missed an open 16-footer and Perry was fouled with 1:03 left. He sank both free throws to cut the deficit back to one. White took it to the hoop for a bucket with 31.1 seconds remaining and Perry wasted no time hustling back down the court for a layup.

With 21.1 seconds left, Devon Turk was fouled and made the first before missing the second and Perry snared the rebound.

Perry pushed the ball up the floor quickly and found Allen wide open on the wing. Allen calmly drilled his first three-pointer of the night to give the Guins the lead at 60-59.

Loyola set up its final play and on a switch, Eargle ended up guarding White. White drove to the hoop, but his shot hit the backboard and front of the rim and rolled off just before time expired.

For the game, YSU shot 42.9 percent making 21-of-49 from the field. Loyola shot 50 percent in the second half and made 5-of-8 from behind the 3-point arc in the second half. For the game, the Ramblers shot 41.5 percent (22-of-53).

In the first half, the Penguins scored seven straight points twice and nine consecutive on another occasion.

Loyola held a 28-second lead early in the game before the Guins went on their first 7-0 run of the half to turn a 4-2 deficit into a 9-4 lead. After the Ramblers snapped the initial scoring run on a basket by Christian Thomas, the Penguins scored the next nine building an 18-6 lead after an old-fashioned three-point play by Allen at the 10:12 mark.

Thomas's free throw snapped the run, but the Guins answered with a Kamren Belin 3-pointer to take a 21-7 lead with 8:14 left in the first half.

Trailing 24-10, the Ramblers scored eight consecutive points to creep within 24-18 at the 4:24 mark, but the Guins responded with seven straight points of their own to forge ahead 31-18 after Cole scored five consecutive points. Belin's 3-pointer in the final minute gave the Guins a 34-20 lead at the break.

YSU scored 10 points off seven Rambler turnovers in the first half. The Guins connected on 14-of-30 shots from the field (46.7 percent) while Loyola made just 8-of-25 (32 percent). YSU's five starters scored 32 of the 34 points in the opening half.

Loyola played the contest without forward Ben Averkamp. Thomas picked up the scoring load with 19, while Turk added 17 and O’Leary 10. Thirty-seven of Loyola’s points came from the freshman class and 56 total points came from underclassmen.

Perry led Youngstown State with 18, while Belin chipped in 11 and Allen 10.

Detroit 82, Milwaukee 74
Detroit won its fourth consecutive game and third on the road, making enough plays down the stretch to hold off a feisty Milwaukee squad, 82-74, at the Klotsche Center.

Detroit’s (16-8, 8-3 Horizon) three straight wins away from Calihan Hall match the longest since the 2012 Horizon League Championship. It is also the longest streak during the regular season since 2009-10.

Milwaukee (5-19, 1-9 Horizon) found itself down 20-4 seemingly immediately after the tip, but the Panthers had a chance to tie the game in the final minute before Detroit salted away the victory with five free throws.

Panthers’ senior James Haarsma scored a season-high 26 points off the bench to lead Milwaukee, with the senior going past 1,000 points in his Division I career at UWM and Evansville.

Nick Minnerath added 18 points while Doug Anderson and Ray McCallum tallied 16 apiece for the Titans, who shot 52.5 percent for the game in staying within a half-game of the top spot in the Horizon League.

The Panthers turned what looked like a runaway into a competitive game over the first 20 minutes. Detroit opened up early leads of 12-2 and 20-4 and looked like it might never be threatened. Instead, Milwaukee rallied. The Panthers used a 12-0 run to turn a 29-14 lead into a 29-26 game, with an Evan Richard basket capping the burst.

Milwaukee then crawled to within 30-29 on a three-point play by Haarsma and pushed into a 33-all tie on a banker by Haarsma with 1:50 remaining.

Jason Calliste would span the halves with threes to boost the Titans, with a late one in the first half creating a 36-33 halftime margin. The junior started the second half with two more, making it 42-36.

But Milwaukee again was not going to go away. A dunk by Demetrius Harris brought the Panthers to within a point at 42-41 and a three-pointer by Paris Gulley 40 seconds later tied the game at 44-apiece. The Panthers then took a 49-46 lead on a three by Ryan Haggerty with 13:10 remaining before Detroit answered with the next four points to retake the lead for good.

Nick Minnerath would calm Detroit with a turnaround banked-in jumper to answer Haggerty before an Anderson steal led to a McCallum dunk, giving the Titans a 50-49 lead with 12:04 to play.

Detroit and Milwaukee would continually answer each other over the next four minutes, with the Titans’ lead hovering between 1-3 points. However, a dunk by McCallum and jumper by Calliste pushed the lead to 69-62.

Still, the Panthers pulled to within 69-67 on a dunk by Harris with 2:25 left and then within 73-72 on a corner three by Haarsma with 1:24 remaining. McCallum scored on the other end for Detroit before Aaron missed a wing three that would have tied the game for Milwaukee, effectively ending the Panthers' hopes. Detroit then made five throws and scored one basket on a runout to hang on for the win.

Calliste led Detroit with 22 points, including five three-pointers, while Minnerath added 18 points and eight rebounds. McCallum and Anderson scored 16 points apiece. As Detroit built its early lead, Anderson had dunks on three consecutive possessions, giving him 60 on the year.

Harris joined Haarsma in double figures, finishing with 10 points on the evening.

Wright State 70, Green Bay 68 (2OT)
For 9:49 of two combined overtimes, Wright State found itself behind or trailing host Green Bay. But when it mattered most, the Raiders delivered, as J.T. Yoho’s three-pointer from the top of the key delivered a key 70-68 win over the Phoenix at the Resch Center.

Wright State (16-8, 7-4 Horizon) picked up the season sweep of Green Bay (12-12, 6-5 Horizon), which dropped into a tie for fourth place on the ladder. The Raiders sit alone in third place, one game clear of Green Bay and Youngstown State.

For the second consecutive game, Wright State found itself trailing by double figures, as Green Bay raced out to a 24-10 lead after back-to-back Cole Stefan threes, the second with 7:55 remaining in the first half.

However, Wright State methodically closed the gap, eventually trailing 32-28 at halftime.

The Raiders’ momentum did not stop at the half, though, as Jerran Young then gave the Raiders their first lead of the night at 37-35 on a jumper at the 14:04 mark of the second half.

Green Bay would come right back, opening a 51-46 lead after Greg Mays split a pair of free throws with 4:14 remaining.

Young would drill a three for Wright State to slice the gap to two, and after Mays went 1-of-2 at the free-throw line again, Yoho tied the game at 52 with 1:57 to play in regulation.

Down 60-56 in the first overtime with 51 seconds to play, Yoho hit another three to cut the deficit to one and after Green Bay hit two of four foul shots, a desperation triple by Miles Dixon tied it at 62 heading to another extra period. Officials went to the monitor to review whether Dixon’s foot was on the line, but ultimately ruled the attempt a three.

With 1.7 seconds left, Green Bay tipped the ball to Brennan Cougill, whose 18-footer came up just short, sending the game to a second overtime.

Again, it was more of the same, with the Phoenix opening an early lead only to see the Raiders come back at the end.

Keifer Sykes’ layup put Green Bay ahead, 67-65, only to see Cole Darling tie the game with a jumper in the lane.

Brown would split a pair of free throws with 31.2 remaining, giving the Phoenix a 68-67 lead, but also setting the stage for Yoho’s game-winner.

Green Bay had one last chance, but a Brown jumper from the foul line rimmed out as the game ended.

The game was just the fifth double overtime contest in WSU history and the first since a 90-87 decision over No. 20 Butler at Hinkle Fieldhouse on January 2, 2002.

The Raiders shot 42 percent overall, 11 of 20 from three-point range, and hit five of six free throws while the Phoenix hit for 36 percent from the floor, 5 of 14 from behind the arc and made 23 of 33 foul shots.

Yoho led the way with 19 off the bench for the Raiders while Dixon chipped in 13 off the bench and Young 11 in a reserve role. Overall, the WSU bench outscored the Green Bay bench 49-15.

Brown paced the Phoenix with 17 points while Sykes had 16 and Stefan 11. Jordan Fouse had a near double-double of nine points and 15 boards.