Milwaukee, Valparaiso Win at Home Tuesday Night

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 26)
Louisiana Tech 103, UIC  78 (Gulf Coast Showcase)
Western Michigan 99, Oakland 88
Milwaukee 89, Judson 56
Valparaiso 85, UCF 70

Louisiana Tech 103, UIC  78
In the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase, the UIC men’s basketball team fell to Louisiana Tech 103-78. UIC turned the ball over 18 times throughout the contest that resulted in 31 points for the Bulldogs.  The Flames await the loser of St. Bonaventure and Wagner for tomorrow’s third-place game scheduled to start at 5 p.m. CT.

Louisiana Tech started fast by scoring the first seven points and then building a 21-4 lead just over seven minutes into the contest.  The Flames fought back with a 9-4 spurt, cutting the edge down to 25-13, but back-to-back Bulldog threes halted the UIC run.  Louisiana Tech ended the first half with 10 points from the foul line in the final three minutes to go ahead 60-36 at the break.

The Bulldogs took advantage of their chances at the free throw line, attempting 43 compared to just 19 for the Flames.

Committing just six turnovers in the second half, the Flames displayed much better ball control and received a large boost from their bench with 28 points.  The final half was a more balanced affair as UIC was slightly edged in total points, 43-42.

Freshmen played a key role in UIC’s scoring efforts as Pat Birt paced UIC in scoring with a career-high 11 points in just 16 minutes of action.  He was joined in double figures by senior Jordan Harks with 10 points, followed senior Kelsey Barlow and junior Marc Brown with nine points apiece.  Junior Ahman Fells tallied eight points all in the second half, while grabbing a team-high five total rebounds.

In just his second collegiate game, freshman Marcus White gave UIC quality minutes at point guard as he dished off a team-high four assists and committed just one turnover.  Freshman Hans-Christian Lauer chipped in a career-high four points, going 4-of-4 from the free throw line.  Freshman Markese McGuire tied his career-best with eight points, six coming in the first half.

Western Michigan 99, Oakland 88
Oakland fell to Western Michigan Tuesday night 99-88 as David Brown of the Broncos scored a career-high 31 points. Travis Bader led the Golden Grizzlies with 25 points including 5 of 8 from beyond the arc, he leads the nation with 60 straight games with at least one 3-pointer.

The Broncos scored the first 11 points of the game, but Oakland used a 28-9 run to take a 28-20 lead with 10 minutes left in the first half. Western Michigan took the lead back with four minutes left in the half and never trailed after that.

Western Michigan shot 57 percent from the field and outrebounded Oakland 38-22.

Corey Petros scored 21 points and had 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. Duke Mondy posted a season-high 18 points to go along with a game-high seven assists and six steals. Dante Williams finished with a career-high 15 points and went 3-for-4 from long range.

Milwaukee 89, Judson 56
The Milwaukee men’s basketball earned its sixth win of the season with an 89-56 victory over Judson University Tuesday night at the U.S. Cellular Arena. Austin Arians and Kyle Kelm led the Panthers while combining to make all 13 of their shots from the field and each scored 14 points.

Milwaukee dominated the game on the interior, scoring 67 points in the paint. UWM set the tone by shooting 60 percent in the first 20 minutes, outscoring Judson 41-4 in the paint during the first half alone.

Arians was a perfect 7-of-7 from the field while Kelm went 6-for-6. J.J. Panoske and JeVon Lyle added 10 points apiece off the bench.
Drew Makiewicz had 17 points to lead the NAIA Eagles.

After jumping up 13-2, Milwaukee extended the lead to 24-8 on a Lyle three and eventually to 42-17 on a drive and dunk by Arians. UWM then led by as many as 31 points late in the half and carried a 54-28 lead into the locker room.

The Panthers restored a 31-point lead quickly in the second half and made liberal used of their bench from there. UWM wound up leading by as many as 37 points and had nine players score six or more points.

Valparaiso 85, UCF 70
Valparaiso jumped out to a 20-7 lead less than eight minutes into the game en route to an 85-70 victory over UCF for the Crusaders’ fourth in as many home games at the ARC so far this season.

It was the play of freshman Lexus Williams which helped get the Crusaders out to their quick start on Tuesday, as the rookie scored nine points in the first six minutes of the game.  Williams opened the game hitting each of his first three shots, including a basket on the first possession and a 3-pointer later in the half, and also assisted on a basket by fifth-year senior Bobby Capobianco during the opening run.

Williams’ triple made it 15-7 Valpo 6:07 into the contest, and on the Crusaders’ next possession, the freshman hit fellow rookie Alec Peters for a 3-pointer to give Valpo a double-digit lead for the first time.  The Crusaders closed the opening run with a second-chance basket on their next trip, as senior Jordan Coleman threw down a two-handed slam to make it 20-7 Valpo with 12:37 to play in the first half.

The Crusaders extended the first-half lead to as many as 14 points on a triple by senior LaVonte Dority  with 7:43 left in the period, allowing them to withstand a 9-0 run by the Knights over the next three minutes, a spurt which was ended by a putback basket from Capobianco.  Dority would find freshman Jubril Adekoyafor an inside bucket in the final minute of the half to close the first-half scoring, as Valpo led 41-33 at the break.

Valpo allowed UCF to get no closer than seven points in the second half, as the lead remained in the low double figures for most of the final 20 minutes.  The Knights were still within nine points at 66-57 with 6:32 to go, but a 3-pointer from Peters pushed the lead back into double digits, and after a UCF basket, the Crusaders scored six straight, including four points from Coleman, to salt the game away.

The balanced Crusader effort saw five players end the night in double figures in the scoring column, led by 16 points from Peters, who hit four 3-pointers.  Coleman came off the bench with 15 points, while Capobianco went 5-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line for 14 points.  Capobianco also finished with game highs of nine rebounds, three blocks and three steals.

Dority contributed 12 points to the winning effort, going a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, while Williams finished with 10 points and four assists.  Valpo, which also had two others finish with eight points, shot 54.2% from the field (26-of-48), including 20-of-28 from inside the 3-point line.  The Crusaders were effective from the foul line as well, going 27-of-33 (81.8%), out-rebounded UCF – which entered the game with an average rebounding margin of +11 - 34-32, and handed out 17 assists while committing only nine turnovers.

Calvin Newell led UCF (3-2), which came into the ARC off of a road win at Miami (Fla.) last time out, with 16 points, but the Crusaders limited Newell to just 4-of-15 shooting from the floor.  Kasey Wilson posted 15 points and six rebounds, while Tristan Spurlock ended the night with 10 points and seven rebounds.