Men's Basketball Final Shot: Jan. 9

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Jan. 8)
Wright State 69, Cleveland State 53
Green Bay 58, Loyola 45
Valparaiso 75, UIC 70

It’s become apparent that road wins will be at a premium in Horizon League play. Both Wright State and Green Bay dominated in their respective venues on Wednesday night, while Valparaiso was able to collect a key road win.

Wright State 69, Cleveland State 53
Jerran Young had 23 points as Wright State led wire-to-wire in a 69-53 win over visiting Cleveland State at the WSU Nutter Center.

Wright State (12-4, 3-0 Horizon) became the first team to reach three wins in the Horizon League, extending the program’s best start since the 1989-90 season.

The Raiders controlled the game throughout, scoring the first eight points of the contest on a Matt Vest four-point play and a three by Cole Darling, followed by a Tavares Sledge free throw. Bryn Forbes would put Cleveland State (9-7, 1-2 Horizon) on the board 5:22 into the first half.

A Forbes three cut the Viking deficit to four before WSU broke the game open with 10 straight points, including triples from Darling and Jerran Young, to go up 24-10 at the 6:23 mark. Wright State maintained a double-digit advantage the rest of the period, taking a 35-17 halftime lead following a Young three-point play in the closing seconds.

The Raiders shot 46 percent in the first half overall and were 7-of-13 from three-point range while the Vikings shot 26 percent and were two for 12 from behind the arc.

CSU closed to within nine early in the second half, but would get no closer as WSU answered with seven unanswered points to push the margin back into double figures and later had an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 55-36 with 9:16 to play.

The win gives Wright State its best overall start since the 1989-90 squad also started the season 12-4.  The 3-0 League start is the best since the 2005-06 campaign, when the Raiders won their first four.

The Raiders shot 45 percent overall and were 9-of-20 from three-point range while Cleveland State shot 37 percent and were 7-of-20 from three.  WSU also led, 24-14, in points off of turnovers.

Young led all scorers with 23 off the bench for Wright State, 14 coming in the first half, as the junior forward was eight of 11 from the field, three of four from three, and added six rebounds and three steals.  Kendall Griffin chipped in 12 points.

Forbes paced Cleveland State with 15 points.

Green Bay 58, Loyola 45
Green Bay dominated from the tip, holding Loyola to 12 first-half points en route to a 58-45 win in the Phoenix’s Horizon League home opener at the Resch Center.

Green Bay (7-9, 1-2 Horizon) used a tour-de-force performance from freshman Jordan Fouse, who finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and seven steals.

The Phoenix forced 18 Loyola (10-5, 1-2 Horizon) turnovers in the game.

Loyola struggled from the outset, falling behind, 12-2, just 5:31 into the game as Keifer Sykes and Alec Brown scored 10 of Green Bay’s first 12 points.

Jordan Hicks would hit a three to draw the Ramblers to 14-5, but the field goal at the 11:50 mark was the last for Loyola over an 8:07 stretch, by which point Green Bay had extended its lead to 21-5.

Kam Cerroni blunted any ideas Loyola had of coming back on two occasions in the half, kick-starting Green Bay’s surge after Hicks’ three, then following Devon Turk’s triple with his second of the half to put the Phoenix up, 24-8.

Green Bay would lead by as many as 20 in the first half, taking a 28-12 edge into the half.

Loyola would trim the deficit to 14 early in the second half before Green Bay sealed the game with an 8-0 burst. Fouse had four of his 13 points in the stretch, capping his night with a jumper with 3:56 remaining.

The Phoenix led by as much as 22 before settling on the final score.

Sykes chipped in with 11 points and nine assists for Green Bay, while Brennan Cougill came off the bench to add 10.

Turk led Loyola with 11 points. The Ramblers shot 31.6 percent in the game.

Valparaiso 75, UIC 70
The preseason pick to win the Horizon League, Valparaiso may be rounding into the form that caused the prognosticators to choose them in October. In a back-and-forth affair, Valparaiso collected a key Horizon League road win, 75-70, at UIC.

Valparaiso (12-5, 2-1 Horizon) trailed by as many as nine points early in the second half before reeling off nine straight points to tie that game at 46 with 13:04 to play on a three by LaVonte Dority.

UIC (10-6, 1-2 Horizon) would take its final lead of the game on two Gary Talton free throws with 5:47 remaining. A hook by Josh Crittle would extend the Flames advantage to 56-53 with 5:16 left, putting UIC in position to collect its seventh win of the year at the Pavilion.

However, Valparaiso would come back once more, with Dority finding Bobby Capobianco in traffic for a layup to cut the lead to one ahead of Ryan Broekhoff’s third three of the game, which lifted the Crusaders to a 58-56 edge with 3:28 to play.

Two more free throws from Talton tied the game, but Dority drained a three, seemingly sending momentum to the Valpo side.

Still, UIC responded once more, as a three-point play from Crittle knotted the game at 61 with 2:34 showing on the clock.

But in the end, it as Broekhoff and Dority who proved too much, as Broekhoff split a double team to hit a jumper from the free-throw line to give the Crusaders a 63-61 lead. Broekhoff would notch his fourth double-double of the year on the next possession, grabbing Crittle’s miss for his 10^th board.

Dority would get to the lane on the subsequent possession; the four-point lead was the largest for either team over a 13-minute stretch of the second half.

Kevin Van Wijk’s runner put Valpo ahead, 67-61, with 54 seconds remaining, and the Crusaders would put the game away at the free-throw line, going 6-of-6 at the stripe. UIC would close within three in the final second before two Matt Kenney free throws created the final margin.

Broekhoff finished the game with 21 points and 10 boards, his second straight double-double effort. Dority, coming off the bench in his return to his hometown, went 6-for-11 from the floor, finishing with 18 points. Van Wijk added 16, going 8-of-8 at the free-throw line.

Talton bested that by hitting all 11 of his free-throw attempts en route to a career-best 25 points. Crittle controlled the low block with 16, while Hayden Humes chipped in 10. Daniel Barnes had just six points, but came away with eight steals.