Milwaukee and Wright State Earn Home Victories

Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 14)
Milwaukee 73, Montana 58
Wright State 68, Miami (Ohio) 59
#--/23 Michigan State 87, Oakland 61

Milwaukee 73, Montana 58
Five players scored in double figures, the first time that has happened this season, as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (5-6) men's basketball team rolled to a 73-58 victory over visiting Montana (3-6) this evening at the Klotsche Center. The Panthers have now won their last six games at the on-campus venue dating back to the 2012-13 campaign.

"When we have five players scoring in double figures, those are the games that we usually have won and tonight that was the case," Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter said. "Our character has been tested with the way the previous two games have gone and this was a step toward taking things down a positive path."

The Panthers shot lights out in the first half, connecting on 56 percent (14 of 25) of their field goal attempts and 55 percent (6 of 11) of their three-point tries as they led by as many as 21 points. Milwaukee drained 6 of its first 7 attempts from three-point territory.

After Mario Dunn's jumper put the Grizzlies ahead by a point, Milwaukee went on a 26-4 run that turned the slimmest of deficits into a 33-12 lead with 5:57 left in the period. That decisive run featured a trio of three-pointers from Matt Tiby and one each from Steve McWhorter and Akeem Springs. However, Montana closed the half by scoring nine unanswered points to close within 37-25 at intermission.

Both teams struggled on offense at the outset of the second period but when McWhorter reeled off four straight Milwaukee points, it began a 14-4 run that was punctuated by a pair of Tiby free throws that gave the Panthers their largest lead of the night at 53-31.

From there, the Grizzlies would get no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.

Milwaukee did a tremendous job containing Montana forward Martin Breunig, who came into the game averaging 17.5 points per game. A smothering Panther defense held Breunig, who tossed in 10 points before fouling out with 9:40 left in the game, nearly eight points below his season average.

J.R. Lyle led all Milwaukee scorers with 16 points, on 6 of 11 shooting, while McWhorter pitched in 15 points and seven rebounds. Springs finished with 14 points off the bench, hitting 4 of 7 shots, including both tries from long range, as he scored in double digits for the first time since the season opener at Auburn on November 14.

Tiby notched his second double-double in the last four contests by totaling 13 points and 10 rebounds and J.J. Panoske rounded out the balanced attack with 10 points.

Wright State 68, Miami (Ohio) 59
The Wright State men's basketball team led by 16 with 4:41 remaining, but had to hold off a late Miami rally before defeating the RedHawks 68-59 Sunday at WSU's Nutter Center.

Miami led in the early going before WSU went on a 15-0 run over a five-minute span, 11 of those coming from Grant Benzinger, to make it 17-5 with 11:08 remaining in the first half.  The Raiders extended the advantage to 28-14 on a Steven Davis layup at the 2:53 mark and maintained that margin at the half at 30-16 on a JT Yoho layup in the final minute.

Wright State shot 59 percent in the opening 20 minutes while holding the RedHawks to 27 percent shooting.

Back-to-back threes by Will Sullivan drew Miami to within six at 39-33 with 11:34 to play, only to see the Raiders answer with six straight of their own and eventually take their biggest lead of the contest at 54-38 on a Joe Thomasson layup at the 4:41 mark.

A 13-2 RedHawk burst, however, cut the deficit to 56-51 with still 2:19 remaining and two Geovonie McKnight foul shots at the 32.7-second mark made it 61-57.

After both team exchanged baskets, two Mark Howell free throws with 22.5 seconds left put WSU up 65-59 and, after a steal, a Reggie Arceneaux foul shot made it three-possession game.  Yoho rounded out the scoring with two free throws with 7.2 seconds to play.

The Raiders shot 56 percent for the game and hit 16 of 23 foul shots while Miami shot 42 percent and was 10 of 15 at the stripe.  WSU also led 36-24 in points in the paint.

Yoho posted a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds, tying a career high, to lead Wright State while Thomasson had 12 points, all in the second half, Benzinger 11 and Michael Karena 10.

#23 Michigan State 87, Oakland 61
Denzel Valentine scored 19 points with 5-for-6 3-point shooting and Michigan State beat Oakland 87-61 on Sunday night.

Branden Dawson had 15 points, Bryn Forbes and Marvin Clark Jr. 12 each and Matt Costello 11 for the balanced the Spartans (7-3).

Dante Williams scored 15 to lead the Golden Grizzlies (4-6). Corey Petros and Kahlil Felder each had 13. Petros also pulled down 10 rebounds.

The Spartans built a 13-point lead in the first half and repeated that feat in the second half en route to the 26-point margin of victory.

Michigan State shot 58.8 percent from beyond the arc and 55.7 percent from the field, assisting on 25 of 34 baskets.

The Spartans also had 10 steals, contributing to 15 Oakland turnovers.