Men's Basketball Final Shot: Feb. 9 - Separation. Kind Of.

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 9)
Green Bay 68, Detroit 59
Valparaiso 80, Cleveland State 72
Wright State 64, Milwaukee 49

While one team gained a measure of separation on the Horizon League ladder on Saturday, two other results helped ensure that the last three weeks of conference play will result in scoreboard-watching and monitoring of tie-breakers. By the end of the day, Valparaiso had opened a 1.5 game lead, with Wright State and Green Bay bunching the standings with victories.

Green Bay 68, Detroit 59
After spraining an ankle and hobbling through Thursday night’s loss, Keifer Sykes bounced back on Saturday. In a game Green Bay needed to have, Sykes burst out in the second half, leading the Phoenix to a key 68-59 win over visiting Detroit in the Horizon League Network Game of the Week.

Sykes had just three points in the first half as Green Bay (13-12, 7-5 Horizon) trailed, 33-30, at the half. However, the second half would see Sykes make 5-of-7 shots and dish out all of his game-high five assists.

The sophomore scored or assisted on 10 of Green Bay’s 13 second-half field goals. During a late 24-9 stretch in which a two-point deficit turned into a 10-point lead, Sykes had two three-point plays, a dunk and assisted on four scoring plays. 

As impressive as the play of Sykes was the play of Green Bay’s defense and its bench. In the second half, the Phoenix held the league’s most potent offense to just 34.5 percent shooting, 10-of-29 and 26 points. Other than Preseason Player of the Year Ray McCallum, who had 16 of his game-high 30 points in the second half, Detroit (16-9, 8-4 Horizon) went just 3-of-18 from the field for 10 points.

Green Bay’s bench outscored the Detroit reserves 25-2, getting 11 points from Kam Cerroni and eight points from Cole Stefan. Cerroni made his first two three-pointers and scored eight of his points in the opening half, and Stefan tallied all eight of his points after halftime.

Detroit led by as many as seven early before Cerroni scored eight-straight Phoenix points to tie the game at 20-20.

Jordan Fouse had 12 points and seven rebounds for the Phoenix while Alec Brown was the fourth player in double figures with 10 points, adding three blocked shots. Brown, who played a team-high 82 minutes in the team’s two-game homestand, now has 198 career blocks to move into fourth in Horizon League history.

The Phoenix outrebounded its 10th opponent in 12 Horizon League games, 35-30, and knocked down 18-of-23 free throws. Including 6-of-13 from long range, Green Bay shot 22-of-51 (43.1 percent) from the field.

Green Bay heads back to the road for two games in Ohio this week with each being carried by the ESPN family of networks. The Phoenix will play at Cleveland State at 8 p.m. CT on Friday night before visiting Youngstown State on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Sunday matinee at YSU can be seen on ESPN3.

Detroit will host Cleveland State on Tuesday on ESPN3 before heading to Valparaiso on Saturday before an ESPN2 audience.

Valparaiso 80, Cleveland State 72
Valparaiso scored the first 12 points at Cleveland State and its lead never dropped under six points as the Crusaders defeated the Vikings, 80-72, in front of a national television audience on ESPN2.

Valparaiso (19-6, 9-2 Horizon) extended its Horizon League lead to 1.5 games after Detroit’s loss at Green Bay. The Crusaders will meet both second-place teams next week, traveling to Wright State before hosting Detroit.

The Crusaders got it going on Saturday with a steal and breakaway slam dunk by Ryan Broekhoff just 37 seconds into the game. On the next trip, Ben Boggs knocked down a mid-range jumper, and then two possessions later nailed a three-pointer from the corner to quickly make it 7-0.

Valpo kept it rolling after a Boggs steal, as Erik Buggs found Will Bogan for another three-pointer as the Crusaders led by double digits just 3:24 into the game, forcing a CSU timeout. Bobby Capobianco closed out the opening run with a basket just over five minutes in, as Cleveland State would not score until a Bryn Forbes jumper with 14:19 left in the opening period.

As the first half approached the midway point, the Vikings sliced a 12-point deficit in half with two three-pointers in a three-possession span, as Forbes’ triple made it 20-14 Valpo with 9:44 left in the first half.

But the Crusaders responded with a 13-1 run behind Bogan and Broekhoff. Bogan got inside for a layup and also hit his second 3-pointer of the game during the spurt, while Broekhoff closed it out with four consecutive points as Valpo led 33-15 with 6:30 left in the half.

Cleveland State (12-13, 4-7 Horizon) closed to within 41-30 with two minutes to play in the half, but Capobianco scored the last three points of the opening 20 minutes to give Valpo a 44-30 lead into the locker room.

The Vikings would put together another surge, closing within 55-47 with 9:35 to play. However, Valparaiso answered every challenge, responding with baskets on four separate occasions.

Down the stretch, the Crusaders basically traded baskets with the Vikings, maintaining at least a three-possession lead.  Both Bogan and Broekhoff knocked down 3-pointers to stave off any hope of a CSU run, while Valpo made 6-of-8 free throws in the final 2:30 to secure the victory.

A balanced offensive effort saw five Valpo players finish the game in double figures, led by 15 from Broekhoff, who also tallied four steals on the game. Van Wijk went 4-of-5 from the floor and 6-of-8 from the foul line for 14 points, while Capobianco scored 13 in just 13 minutes off the bench. Bogan and Buggs each added 11 points apiece, while the latter also handed out eight assists, his second-highest output of the season. The Crusaders shot 55.1 pecent (27-of-49) from the floor, their third straight game over 50 percent from the field.

Forbes finished with a career-high 24 points, while Marlin Mason continued his improved play with 16 off the bench.

The Crusaders forced 17 CSU turnovers which they turned into 27 points, while the Vikings posted 19 second-chance points on 14 offensive boards.

Valparaiso will travel to second-place Wright State on Tuesday ahead of Saturday’s nationally-televised game versus Detroit. Cleveland State will hit the road to take on Detroit on Tuesday before hosting Green Bay on Friday on ESPNU.

Wright State 64, Milwaukee 49
Wright State ended a 14-year drought in a city known for its draughts, never trailing in a 64-49 defeat of Milwaukee at the Klotsche Center.

Wright State (17-8, 8-4 Horizon) moved into a tie for second in the Horizon League, winning its third straight game.

The Raiders never trailed in the contest as Matt Vest opened the scoring with a three and the lead grew to 13-4 on a Jerran Young triple with 13:40 remaining in the first half. Milwaukee (5-20, 1-10 Horizon) followed with nine straight points to tie the game, only to see Wright State answer with a Reggie Arceneaux three and a Cole Darling layup.

A Darling tip-in later stretched the margin to 30-20 and two JT Yoho free throws at the 1:16 mark gave the Raiders a 32-21 halftime advantage.

Wright State hit 10-of-20 shots in the first half, including a blistering 6-of-8 from three-point range, and was a perfect six for six at the foul line while Milwaukee shot 39 percent overall, was two for eight from behind the arc and hit just one of four free throws.

The Panthers cut the deficit to nine twice in the early going of the second half, but would get no closer as WSU maintained a double-digit lead for most of the period, going up as much as 17 at 62-45 on two Tavares Sledge foul shots with 3:51 to play.

The win was the first for the Raiders in Milwaukee since defeating the Panthers 75-65 on February 21, 1998, snapping a 14-game losing streak. WSU had also dropped two Horizon League Tournament games in Milwaukee during that time, falling to Detroit in the 2005 tournament and to Cleveland State in 2011.

The victory also gave Wright State a sweep of Green Bay and Milwaukee on the road for the first time ever. The three schools have been in the same conference together since the 1993-94 season.

WSU shot 48 percent overall, hit six of 12 three-pointers and made 16-of-19 free throws while Milwaukee shot 40 percent for the game, connected on five of 16 threes and was eight of 13 at the stripe.

The Raider bench, which outscored the Panther reserves 32-16, led the way as Young had 18 and Arceneaux seven. Young’s 18 marked the seventh time this year he has come off the bench to finish in double figures. Darling matched Young with 18 points while Sledge gathered in nine rebounds.

Paris Gulley paced Milwaukee with 10 points.

Wright State hosts League-leading Valparaiso on Tuesday, February 12, at 7 p.m. EST, with the Horizon League Network providing live coverage. Milwaukee will host Loyola at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.