Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 3)
Milwaukee 65, UMKC 56
Oakland 84, Rochester College 52
Valparaiso 72, Eastern Kentucky 66
Toledo 59, Cleveland State 54
Milwaukee 65, UMKC 56
Steve McWhorter scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the second half and was one of three Panthers to score in double figures as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (4-4) picked up a 65-56 victory over visiting UMKC (3-5) tonight. With the win, the Panthers improve to 3-1 at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena this season.
“I was pleased with how we played defensively,” Milwaukee Head Coach Rob Jeter said. “We did a good job containing Martez Harrison. We knew we weren’t going to stop him, but I thought we did a nice job of making things difficult for him.”
Neither team was able to generate much offense in the first few minutes and Kansas City, Mo., native J.R. Lyle’s three-pointer from the wing at the 16:10 mark gave Milwaukee an early 3-0 lead. Lyle scored all nine of his points during the Panthers’ game-opening 15-4 run.
A three-pointer by Justin Jordan gave Milwaukee a 28-16 lead late in the first half, but the Kangaroos closed out the period by scoring six unanswered points, the last two coming on a floater by Harrison just before the first-half buzzer, to draw within six. The Panthers held UMKC to a paltry 29 percent (8-for-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
After Milwaukee built the lead back up to double digits, at 32-22, early in the second half, UMKC reeled off nine of the next 12 points in the game to close the gap to 35-31.
Enter McWhorter.
The senior point guard scored nine points in Milwaukee’s 16-4 run that gave the Panthers their largest lead of the night, 51-35. UMKC refused to go away quietly and sliced the UWM lead to 55-51 with 2:57 remaining, but with his team needing a basket, Cody Wichmann buried a long three-pointer from the wing to ignite a 7-2 run that gave the Panthers a 62-52 lead.
McWhorter fell a rebound shy of his second double-double of the season, finishing with 17 points and nine boards to go with three assists, two blocks and a pair of steals. He has now scored in double figures in seven straight outings.
“Steve has played phenomenally well all year and guys have been feeding off him. I can’t say enough good things about how he has played this year,” Jeter said.
Tiby tallied his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Panthers improved to 6-1 in his career when he scores 10 or more points and reaches double digits in rebounds. Wichmann continued his solid play by chipping in 11 points off the bench and playing 25 minutes of turnover-free basketball.
UMKC, which was limited to 35 percent shooting for the game, was led by Harrison’s 14 points, though he hit just 5 of 14 shots from the field.
Oakland 84, Rochester College 52
Corey Petros scored 18 points and three other Oakland players reached double figures to roll to an 84-52 victory over Rochester (Mich.) of the NAIA on Wednesday night.
Petros had 14 points in the first half as Oakland built a 34-25 halftime lead. Nick Daniels hit three treys in the second half to give Oakland a 54-32 lead with 13:18 left. Daniels finished with 17 points and was 5 of 5 from beyond the arc.
Tommie McCune added 11 points and Jalen Hayes chipped in 10 for the Grizzlies, who were 31 of 54 from the floor. Kahlil Felder had seven points and nine assists for Oakland (3-5).
Nick Tatu was the only Rochester player with double figures as he finished with 13 points. Milton Cribbs had nine points and seven rebounds. Matt Gold and Paris Pereira each dished out four assists for the Warriors.
Valparaiso 72, Eastern Kentucky 66
The Valparaiso men’s basketball team improved to 8-1 on the season and won its seventh straight game, utilizing a key 13-0 run late in the second half to pull away from Eastern Kentucky, eventually hanging on for a 72-66 victory over the Colonels Wednesday evening in Richmond, Ky. The win snapped EKU’s 25-game non-conference home court winning streak.
Sophomore Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) led the way for Valpo on Wednesday with another stellar shooting effort. Peters matched his career high with seven made 3-pointers, going 7-of-8 from behind the arc in a 21-point performance. The sophomore was joined in double figures by freshman Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College), who finished with 15 points, and senior Vashil Fernandez (Kingston, Jamaica/Princeton Day [Md.] Academy), who was a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor for 12 points.
It was a one-possession game at 52-49 with 6:22 to play following a second-chance basket from EKU’s Ja’Mill Powell, but from that point, it was all Crusaders over the next three minutes. Peters started the run with a 3-pointer off a feed from junior Keith Carter (Maywood, Ill./Proviso East [Saint Louis]), and following a miss by the Colonels, the Crusaders pushed the ball on the fast break, resulting in an old-fashioned 3-point play by Walker to quickly push the lead to nine points.
After another stop, Valpo came down and worked the offense until Carter again found Peters for a trifecta. Another EKU miss led to a prolonged Crusader possession, one which ended with a basket from Fernandez, again assisted by Carter. The Crusader zone defense forced another missed 3-pointer from the Colonels, and Valpo continued to capitalize on the offensive end, as Walker hit a baseline jumper to make it 65-49 Valpo with 3:20 to go, capping the 13-0 run.
Another 3-pointer by Peters with 1:54 to play pushed the Crusaders’ advantage to 68-53, but Eastern Kentucky would rally, getting the deficit back to single figures on a 3-pointer from Corey Walden with 43 seconds remaining. The Colonels got as close as five points with 10 seconds to play following a Walden layup, but junior Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) split a pair of free throws for the final margin, as EKU missed its final two 3-point attempts.
As it has so often during the seven-game winning streak, Valpo got off to a strong start on Wednesday. The Crusaders connected on six of their first eight attempts from the 3-point line in running out to a large early lead. A fast-break dunk from Fernandez off a feed from Carter made it 9-2 just over four minutes into the game, and the lead reached double figures for the first time as Darien Walker hit a triple 8:30 into the contest, making it 23-11 Valpo.
But the Crusaders would go cold from the field for the rest of the first half, going just 3-of-14 over the final 11:30 of the period as Eastern Kentucky rallied. The Colonels went on a 19-3 run over the next eight-plus minutes, pushing their lead to three points at 30-27 on a layup from Timmy Knipp with 3:18 to play in the half. But Valpo kept Eastern Kentucky off the board until halftime, and the Crusaders went 5-of-5 from the foul line – two from freshman David Skara (Zadar, Croatia/Ekonomska Skola Zadar) and three by junior E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]) – over the final three minutes to take a 32-30 edge into the locker room.
The lead would change hands ten times over the first ten minutes of the second half, as that entire stretch was played within a four-point span. A tip-in by Skara just over eight minutes into the stanza tied the game up at 45-45, and two possessions later, Fernandez capitalized on the third chance of a Crusader possession with an inside basket, giving Valpo the lead for good. A three-pointer from Carter with 7:30 to go pushed the edge to five points before Powell’s putback set the stage for Valpo’s big run.
Carter added nine points and matched his career high with seven assists to help out the Crusader offense on Wednesday. Valpo ended the night hitting 49% from the field – 60% in the second half – and was 11-of-21 from the 3-point line, the Crusaders’ fifth game with at least ten triples on the season. The Crusaders had 19 assists on their 25 baskets, led by Carter’s seven, and out-rebounded EKU 39-26, paced by nine boards from Skara and seven by Peters.
Eastern Kentucky (4-2) placed four players in double figures, led by 16 points from Knipp, who connected on four 3-pointers. Walden, the Colonels’ leading scorer entering the game, finished with 13 points, but had just three over the first 38-plus minutes of the game before their late rally. The Crusaders limited EKU to just 36.1% shooting from the field, including a 12-of-37 mark (32.4%) from 3-point range.
Toledo 59, Cleveland State 54
Cleveland State used a late barrage of three-pointers to pull within three points, but Toledo held on for a 59-54 victory over the Vikings on Wednesday night in the Wolstein Center.
Both teams are now 3-4 this season.
Trey Lewis led the Vikings with a game-high 21 points, four rebounds and three assists, while Marlin Mason finished with eight points, six rebounds and four blocked shots.
Charlie Lee, making his season debut, added nine points, six rebounds and four assists off the bench and Anton Grady chipped in seven points and five boards.
J.D. Weatherspoon led three Toledo players in double figures with 16 points.
Trailing by nine points (52-43) with one minute to play, CSU used a Grady dunk, and three-pointers from Lee, Lewis and Mason to pull within 57-54 with 11 seconds left.
However, Jonathan Williams hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left to push the lead back to five and with just three team fouls, the Rockets were able to foul CSU before the Vikings could get a shot off.
The Rockets led at halftime, 28-15, as CSU shot just 6-of-29 from the field over the opening 20 minutes. The lead grew to 18 points early in the second half before CSU trimmed its deficit to 11 (37-26) on a Mason layup.
But the Rockets once again had an answer, scoring seven straight points as the lead grew back to 18 points (44-26) with 13:14 to play.
The lead stayed double figures until CSU's late three-pointers.
