Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 30)
Youngstown State 80, Valparaiso 68
Detroit 83, Wright State 76
Loyola 76, Milwaukee 65
Entering Wednesday night, there was a chance the Horizon League men’s basketball standings could open up. There was also a chance that the standings could become bunched, as they have each of the previous two seasons. After wins by Youngstown State, Detroit and Loyola, it was the latter, as the League standings tightened.
Youngstown State 80, Valparaiso 68
Behind Kendrick Perry’s 28 points and 11 rebounds, Youngstown State took control early and never let up, holding off League-leading Valparaiso, 80-68, at the Beeghly Center.
Youngstown State (13-8, 5-3 Horizon) pulled into a tie for third place in the Horizon League, joining Green Bay with a 5-3 conference record. Valparaiso (16-6, 6-2 Horizon) remains in first place, but missed out on an opportunity to open up a larger lead in the Horizon League.
Perry led the way in both halves, scoring 15 points in the first half before adding 13 in the second. Ten of Perry’s 11 rebounds game on the defensive glass.
The Penguins never trailed on the evening and led by double figures for the final 15:20 of the contest. In the game, YSU shot 48.1 percent, making 26-of-54 attempts. Perry went 8-of-12 from the field and knocked down 4-of-7 from behind the 3-point line.
YSU held Valpo to just 41.1 percent from the field, as the Crusaders connected on just 3-of-20 3-point attempts and missed 12 free throws. YSU was 20-of-27 from the free-throw line.
The Penguins jumped out to a 39-28 halftime lead, as Perry capped the half with a stepback jumper and foul. Fellow junior Kamren Belin add 10, as YSU never trailed in the first half and the contest was tied only once - 4-4 at 16:21.
YSU was on top 15-9 following a Ryan Broekhoff three-pointer at the 12:31 mark. The Guins scored the next seven points as Bobby Hain made two free throws, Perry knocked down a jumper and DJ Cole converted a steal and fast-break layup opportunity.
In the second half, Valpo cut the deficit to nine on three occasions before the Guins went up 12 at the 15:20 mark. YSU led by 17, 60-43 at the 8:08 mark on a three-point play by Damian Eargle and 63-46 on a three-pointer by Perry.
Valparaiso attempted to draw out the game by fouling, but YSU was 9-of-12 from the line during that time to extinguish any comeback hopes.
Belin finished the contest with 16 points and nine rebounds while Eargle had 11 points. For Valpo, four players scored in double figures led by 14 by Kevin Van Wijk. Broekhoff struggled from the floor, going 3-of-13 en route to finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds.
Valparaiso will host Milwaukee on Friday night, while Youngstown State will head to Detroit for a Friday night game on ESPNU.
Detroit 83, Wright State 76
Detroit pulled away late to collect a key 83-76 win at the Wright State Nutter Center.
The win was the third road victory for Detroit (14-8, 6-3 Horizon) in four conference road games. The Titans pulled within one-half game of Valparaiso for the top spot in the Horizon League. Wright State (14-8, 5-4 Horizon) dropped its third straight game, this one sending it to fifth place on the Horizon League ladder.
Ray McCallum led Detroit with a game-high 24 points, while Nick Minnerath added 18 and Doug Anderson pitched in 15. Juwan Howard, Jr. also scored in double figures with 11 points, nine in the second half, while Evan Bruinsma grabbed a team-high nine rebounds to go along with his nine points.
Detroit was down by one at the half, 41-40, but outscored the Raiders, 43-35, in the second stanza, including 14-9 from the charity stripe.
In a game that had a total of 51 fouls Detroit used its defense to claim the win. With the lead seemingly fluctuating on seemingly every possession, the Titans held a 66-65 lead with 7:24 left, before their defense locked down to hold Wright State without a basket for six minutes to build a 77-65 lead.
The Raiders made five free throws and a couple of baskets in the closing minute, while the Titans only connected of 4-of-11 free throws down the stretch.
Detroit shot 50 percent (13-of-26) in the second half, while holding the Raiders to 41.4 percent, including 12.5 percent (2-of-16) from three-point range to take control of the game.
The Titans opened the game by making four of its first five shots, including two three pointers from Minnerath and a big dunk from Anderson, to build a 10-5 lead with 16:29 left. The Titans maintained a five-point lead for the next five minutes, 19-14, until the Raiders put together a 27-13 run to build their largest lead of the game, 41-32, with 2:12 left.
However, Detroit rallied in the final minutes of the first half, closing on an 8-0 run. McCallum capped the burst with a three-pointer from 35 feet to send the Titans into locker room down, 41-40. McCallum led all scorers with 14 points in the first half, while the Titans shot 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the field.
The Titans ended the game shooting 54.2 percent (26-of-48) from the field, including 47.4 percent (9-for-19) from downtown, while Wright State shot 44.6 percent (25-of-56) overall and just 26.5 percent (9-for-34) from beyond the arc.
Jerran Young scored nine of his 14 points in the first half to lead Wright State, while Reggie Arceneaux added 12 and Kendall Griffin pitched in 11. Cole Darling also scored in double figures with 10 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.
Loyola 76, Milwaukee 65
Loyola scored 20-straight points in a decisive second-half run to claim a 76-65 win over Milwaukee at the Gentile Arena.
Loyola (13-8, 3-5 Horizon) trailed 44-42 with 14:10 to play before going on the decisive burst, which stretched Milwaukee’s (5-17, 1-7 Horizon) road skid to 12 games away from the Klotsche Center.
Ben Averkamp posted his third double double of the season and Jordan Hicks scored a season-high 21 points for the Ramblers, who won for the third time in the last four games in taking their first Horizon League home contest of the season.
Milwaukee got out to a 23-15 lead thanks to some torrid shooting that included a trio of three-pointers in the opening 10 minutes. But, a steal and ensuing layup by Jeff White kicked off a 10-1 Loyola run that culminated with a layup by Christian Thomas as the Ramblers took a 25-24 lead.
A basket by Jordan Aaron at the 14:25 mark of the second half broke a 42-42 tie and gave the Panthers a two-point lead, but for the second time this season, Loyola rattled off 20 consecutive points, beginning with a tip-in by Averkamp as the Ramblers built a 62-44 lead, the largest of the evening. Key among those 20 straight points were back-to-back threes from Cully Payne and Devon Turk, as the Ramblers held Milwaukee scoreless for 8:27 in the decisive stretch.
Loyola connected on 57 percent (16 for 28) of its field goal attempts in the second half and for the night, outscored Milwaukee in the paint, 46-24.
Averkamp finished with 22 points matched a career high with 12 rebounds. With his 22 points, the senior forward moved into a tie with John Egan (1961-64) for 17th place on Loyola’s career scoring chart with 1,315 points.
Hicks totaled 21 points, his most since a 21-point performance at Western Michigan on November 20, 2010, and grabbed seven rebounds. Thomas pitched in 16 points as he scored in double figures for the 10th time in the last 12 contests.
Aaron scored a team-high 17 points to lead Milwaukee, which committed 16 turnovers on the night. Demetrius Harris added 11 points and eight rebounds for UWM, which saw J.J. Panoske limited to just 11 minutes by foul trouble.
The shooting of Arians sparked Milwaukee in the first half, as 11 of his 17 points came as UWM built a 33-32 halftime edge.
