Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 23)
Loyola 67, Cleveland State 55
Youngstown State 68, Wright State 61
UIC 60, Milwaukee 50
Valparaiso 73, Green Bay 61
It is often said that basketball is a game of runs. The axiom was reinforced throughout the Horizon League on Wednesday night, as runs both early and late helped decide all four games.
Loyola 67, Cleveland State 55
Trailing 55-51, Loyola used a 16-0 run down the stretch to stun host Cleveland State, 67-55, at the Wolstein Center.
Christian Thomas scored a career-best 21 points for Loyola (12-7, 2-4 Horizon), which snapped a four-game conference losing streak.
The Ramblers got off to a sluggish start, as Cleveland State (10-11, 2-5 Horizon) opened a 19-8 lead before Loyola slowly whittled its way back into the game. A three-pointer by Devon Turk began the Ramblers’ half-closing 17-6 run that sent the teams into the locker room tied at 25 at the break. Loyola held Cleveland State without a basket for the final 4:33 of the period and to only four points over the final 10:58.
After Thomas opened the second-half scoring with a thunderous dunk, Cleveland State rattled off six unanswered points as part of a 21-6 run that gave the Vikings a 46-33 lead, their largest of the night, with 13:39 remaining.
Thomas completed a three-point play to spark a 15-2 run that was punctuated by Ben Averkamp’s dunk with 6:44 to play that evened the score at 48. Bryn Forbes drained a three to put the Vikings back on top by three, but Cully Payne answered with a cultch triple of his own to draw the Ramblers even again.
The three by Forbes was his last of the night in a 22-point performance. The freshman went 7-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-4 from three-point range in setting a new career high.
Back-to-back hoops by Charlie Lee and Marlin Mason gave Cleveland State a 55-51 advantage with 4:58 remaining.
Loyola went back to the well, however, getting another three-pointer from Turk, sparking Loyola’s 16-0 run to finish the game as Averkamp tallied six of his 18 points during that closing stretch.
Thomas, who tallied a career-best 21 points, added five rebounds, and has now scored in double figures in eight of the last 10 contests. Averkamp finished with 18 points and Turk added 13 points for the Ramblers.
Loyola dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Vikings, 33-21.
Cleveland State, which was limited to 39 percent (21-for-53) shooting from the field, was led by Forbes’ 22 points. Mason came off the bench to finish with 10 points, eight of which came in the first half as the Vikings built their early lead.
Loyola returns home this weekend when it will host 2012 Horizon League champion Detroit on Saturday at 4 p.m. EST. Cleveland State will travel to Youngstown State, where the Vikings and Penguins will contest the Horizon League Network Game of the Week on Saturday at 2 p.m. EST.
Youngstown State 68, Wright State 61
Returning home to the Beeghly Center, it was seniors Blake Allen and Damian Eargle who lifted Youngstown State to a 68-61 win over a youthful Wright State squad.
The lone seniors in the game, the duo scored 35 of Youngstown State’s (11-8, 3-3 Horizon) 68 points
Eargle scored 18 points, including 10 in the second half, while Allen had 17, including 10 in the final 20 minutes. Kendrick Perry finished with 14 points for the Penguins who have now won two straight contests to even their League record.
A strong second half helped push the Penguins to the victory in large part thanks to a pair of 8-0 runs at key points. From the field in the second half, YSU shot 57.1 percent making 12-of-21 shots from the field while the Raiders made just 14-of-37 in the half (37.8 percent).
Early in the second half the Penguins went on an 8-0 spurt turning a 35-33 lead into a 43-33 advantage. Leading by two at the 16:20 mark, Perry drained a 3-pointer to make the contest 38-33 then DJ Cole connected from long range to push the advantage up to 41-33.
The basket at 10:03 came on a shot-clock beating layup from Allen as Cole found him just outside the paint while driving the lane.
Playing its third straight road game, Wright State (14-6, 5-2 Horizon) whittled the Penguins lead to 46-42 on a hanger in the lane by Miles Dixon, but YSU went on another 8-0 to take a 54-42 lead when Allen drained a clutch 3-pointer at the 4:48 mark.
Wright State pulled within seven points on three occasions in the last three minutes, including the final margin, but could not get any closer.
YSU shot 50 percent (24-of-48) for the game while Wright State made 25-of-63 (39.7 percent). The Guins made 15-of-19 free-throw attempts while WSU made just five from the line. Jerran Young led the Raiders with 18 points off the bench.
An entertaining and fast-paced first half featured eight lead changes, but just a single tie (15-15). At the break the Penguins grabbed a 28-25 advantage.
YSU maintained the lead in the first four minutes of the contest before Wright State held the advantage of the next three minutes. After some back-and-forth action for the next five minutes, YSU grabbed the lead for good on two Perry free throws. The Guins pushed the advantage to 19-15 on a 3-pointer by Kamren Belin at the 7:42 mark. Two-and-a-half minutes later, YSU led by six following a baseline drive and dunk by Shawn Amiker and a left-handed flick of a tip-in by Bobby Hain.
Five consecutive points by Wright State cut the deficit to 23-22 at the 3:59 mark before YSU scored the next five points to go in front 28-22 on a layup followed by an and-one for Allen.
The Penguins return to action on Saturday when they play host to Cleveland State. Tipoff at the Beeghly Center is set for 2:05 p.m., and the game is the Horizon League Network's Game of the Week. Wright State will return to the Nutter Center, hosting UIC at 7 p.m. EST in its “Blackout” game.
UIC 60, Milwaukee 50
It was a tale of two halves at the UIC Pavilion, where Milwaukee scored 42 first-half points, only to see UIC storm back in the second half to claim a 60-50 victory.
UIC (12-8, 3-4 Horizon) was aided in its comeback by a stifling defensive effort, which held Milwaukee (5-15, 1-5 Horizon) to eight second-half points. The total was the lowest total in a half in Horizon League history.
Milwaukee seemingly could not miss in the first half, knocking down eight three-pointers as the Panthers raced out to a 42-25 halftime lead. However, after hitting 15 field goals in the opening 20 minutes, Milwaukee hit just three in the second half, finishing 3-of-25 from the floor. The Panthers’ last field goal came with 9:39 to play; UWM would not score the remainder of the contest as UIC closed the game on a 19-0 run.
Meanwhile, after UIC shot just 32.1-percent in the first half, the Flames went 12-of-27 in the second half to break through.
Still, Milwaukee did not give up its lead easily, holding a 50-49 lead into the final minutes of the game and surviving UIC’s first seven attempts to either tie or take the lead.
It was the eighth that broke Milwaukee’s back, as Gary Talton hit a three from the right wing with 1:35 to play to give the Flames their first lead of the game.
Jordan Aaron would miss his attempt to give Milwaukee the lead once more, and Talton came through for UIC on the next possession, turning the corner and getting to the rim for a layup to push the Flames’ advantage to 54-50 with 45 seconds remaining.
After Paris Gulley missed a three, Milwaukee was forced to foul, where Talton and Anthony Kelley went 4-for-4 to seal the result.
Talton and Gulley tied for game-high honors with 14 points apiece, while Aaron joined his Milwaukee teammate Gulley in double figures with 13 points. The duo was held to four points in the second half, all coming from Gulley.
Joey Miller came off the UIC bench with 12 points, while Will Simonton added 10. Kelley finished a career-best night with 10 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.
UIC will head to Wright State for Saturday’s “Blackout” game at the Nutter Center, while Milwaukee will turn around to host Green Bay on ESPNU at 9 p.m. EST on Friday.
Valparaiso 73, Green Bay 61
Racing out to an early lead, Valparaiso was forced to sweat down the stretch before holding off Green Bay, 73-61, at the ARC.
In a matchup of the two hottest teams in the Horizon League, it was Valparaiso (16-5, 6-1 Horizon) that extended its winning streak to six, and in the process, ending Green Bay’s (10-10, 4-3 Horizon) winning streak at four.
Valpo’s lead in the second half peaked at ten points, as a three-pointer from Matt Kenney put the Crusaders ahead 58-48 with 6:17 to play. That would be Valpo’s last field goal for four and a half minutes, during which time Green Bay put together a 10-3 run to close back within three points. Daniel Turner had a 3-pointer and a layup for the Phoenix during their spurt, while Jordan Fouse capped the run with a putback with two minutes to play.
Enter Ryan Broekhoff. The senior, who was just 1-of-6 from the floor at this point, stepped up and hit the big shot down the stretch yet again, nailing a stepback 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining to push the Crusader edge to 64-58.
After a Phoenix miss, Kenney split a pair of free throws to make it a seven-point lead, and Erik Buggs snuck in to steal the inbounds pass, milking more time off the clock and helping seal the result after two subsequent Will Bogan free throws.
Broekhoff, Bogan and Kenney all were perfect on their final trips to the charity stripe in the last 50 seconds, while Green Bay would add just a Cole Stefan 3-pointer to its side of the ledger before the final horn.
Buggs was the catalyst at the start, tallying seven points, an assist and three steals before the game even reached the first media timeout. Buggs canned a 3-pointer on Valpo’s first possession, just his third 3-point make of the season, and followed with a defensive steal and fast-break layup to make it a quick 5-0 lead. The senior used his other two early steals to finish a fast break on his own and hit Kenney for a fast-break layup as Valpo led 9-2 early.
The Crusaders kept pushing the lead behind a trio of newcomers, as triples on consecutive possessions from Jordan Coleman and Bobby Capobianco followed by a layup from LaVonte Dority made it a double-digit game at 17-7 with 12:23 left in the first half.
Later, Buggs found Bogan for an open 3-pointer and then hit Capobianco for an inside basket as the Crusader lead peaked at 25-9 just over 11 minutes into the game.
But Green Bay used a pair of runs to get back into the contest. The Phoenix scored eight straight, capped by a fast-break dunk from Keifer Sykes, to move to within 27-19 with 5:40 to go in the opening period.
Then, after Valpo had scored the next three, Green Bay rattled off ten consecutive points, seven of which came from Alec Brown, to make it a one-point game. The Crusaders eventually took a 34-31 lead into the locker room.
Kevin Van Wijk, who had been held scoreless in the first half, was the Crusaders’ offensive catalyst early in the second half, scoring Valpo’s first seven points of the final 20 minutes. Two more Van Wijk baskets made it an eight-point lead at the 11:08 mark, and a circus 3-point play from Broekhoff with 7:04 to play pushed the lead to 55-46 and set the stage for Kenney’s triple.
Despite shooting just 2-of-7 from the field, Broekhoff ended the night with a game-high 19 points, utilizing a 14-of-15 performance on the foul line. Van Wijk scored 12 points, all of which came in the second half, while Kenney was the third Crusader in double figures with 10 points. Both Broekhoff and Kenney ended up just one rebound shy of a double-double, tying for game-high honors with nine caroms.
Buggs dished out a game-best five assists to go with nine points and a career-high six steals.
Green Bay was led by 18 points from Brown, 15 from Sykes and 12 off the bench by Brennan Cougill. Fouse led the Phoenix with nine rebounds, while Stefan racked up four steals on the evening.
While Valparaiso will be off until Jan. 30, Green Bay will look for its first road win of the season on Friday as it travels to Milwaukee. The Wisconsin rivalry will be featured on ESPNU at 9 p.m. EST.
