Horizon League Men's Basketball Results on Thursday, Dec. 29:
Milwaukee 57, Valparaiso 55
Butler 53, Green Bay 49
UIC 63, Detroit 59
Wright State 64, Loyola 48
Through three days of Horizon League men's basketball conference play, eight games have been within a single possession with one minute to play. Three such games occurred on Thursday night, as fans were treated to tense contests in Indianapolis, Valparaiso and Chicago.
Milwaukee 57, Valparaiso 55
In a back-and-forth affair, it was Kaylon Williams' three-pointer with just under a minute to play that sent Milwaukee to a key 57-55 victory over Valparaiso at the ARC.
Milwaukee (10-4, 3-0 Horizon) trailed midway through the second half before taking a 47-42 lead with six minutes to play. Still, the Panthers found themselves down to Valparaiso (8-6, 1-1 Horizon), 53-52 with 1:24 left. Going down low to James Haarsma, Williams forced a jump ball after a wild scrum for the rebound off Haarsma's miss, keeping possession with Milwaukee.
On the subsequent possession, Williams went to the left wing and launched a three, which went halfway down, spun out, then came back down through the net to put the Panthers ahead, 55-53.
Valparaiso, which had scored 38 points in the paint to that point, went back down low to Kevin Van Wijk, but the junior could not convert, with Ryan Allen grabbing the board. Two freebies by Allen pushed the advantage to four and the Crusaders were not able to knock down a three in the final 25 seconds to bring the game within a possession.
The Crusaders dominated the interior, scoring 40 points in the paint on the night, including 26 of the team's 28 first-half points. Ryan Broekhoff, Erik Buggs and Van Wijk were the primary reasons, with Broekhoff tallying his seventh double-double of the year with a game-high 18 points and 12 boards. Van Wijk added 15 and Buggs 10, but Valpo was doomed by 1-of-17 shooting from three-point range.
Milwaukee held the Horizon League's highest-scoring offense 20 points below its season average, while Tony Meier found his stroke from outside, knocking down 5-of-8 attempts from three-point range en route to a game-high 17 points. Williams stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, nine boards and seven assists, while Haarsma recorded 12 points.
Butler 53, Green Bay 49
Both teams struggled from the floor, but Butler made enough plays down the stretch to secure a 53-49 win over visiting Green Bay at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
Butler (7-7, 1-1 Horizon) knocked down just 31 percent of its attempts, but the 18-of-58 effort still bested the 15-of-54 shooting that plagued Green Bay (6-7, 2-1 Horizon) throughout.
Despite the shooting, Green Bay led for the majority of the game, as Brennan Cougill's seven points and seven boards in the first half helped stake the Phoenix to a 25-21 lead at the half. But the Phoenix could not shoot well enough to build a cushion over Butler, who used stifling defense to hang around despite its own struggles from the field.
Green Bay would open a 32-27 lead with 17:16 left on three Kam Cerroni free throws, but but Butler would whittle away at the lead behind Andrew Smeathers' shooting. The freshman faked twice before knocking down a leaner to bring the Bulldogs within a point, 36-35, before drilling Butler's first three-pointer of the game put the 'Dawgs up, 38-37, with 11:04 remaining.
It was the second three of the game for Butler that would provide Butler some cushion, as Andrew Smith's rare triple from the left wing opened a 45-40 advantage with 5:37 left. Still, Green Bay refused to go away, as Keifer Sykes was able to get to the rim, sandwiching layups around a Steve Baker layup to bring the Phoenix within a single point at the 2:26 mark of the half.
Leading 49-47 with a minute to play, Butler would convert on an offensive rebound by Roosevelt Jones; as Butler worked the shot clock down to zero, Kameron Woods and Ronald Nored worked a high pick and roll, with Woods drilling the three as the shot clock expired to put the Bulldogs up, 52-47, with 20 ticks left.
Woods finished with 10 points, while Nored, Smith and Green Bay's Alec Brown shared game-high honors with 13 points apiece. Cougill had 13 rebounds a game after collecting 19.
UIC 63, Detroit 59
Behind Gary Talton's career-high 21 points, UIC was able to fend off Detroit, 63-59, at the UIC Pavilion to collect its first win in Horizon League play.
UIC (5-8, 1-2 Horizon) led 61-57 and had possession with 54.4 seconds to play, but had to fend off a Detroit attack that would not go away. Setting up full-court pressure, the Titans trimmed their deficit in half on a Doug Anderson steal and dunk with 50 seconds remaining. After an Eli Holman block gave Detroit a chance to tie, Jason Calliste was fouled on his initial move to the bucket.
Calliste went to the free-throw line with 2.4 ticks left, but missed the front end of the 1-and-1, with Daniel Barnes grabbing the rebound. His subsequent free throws sealed the result.
Talton was largely the reason UIC led down the stretch, as his nine straight points helped turn a 53-51 Detroit lead into a 60-57 Flames advantage with 3:12 left. The junior was able to get to the free-throw line for four freebies, converted a layup and knocked down his fourth of five three of the game in the stretch.
UIC stymied Detroit's high-scoring offense; the Titans entered the night averaging 74.6 ppg, but were held 15 points under the average as they shot 39 percent in the game and 32 percent in the first half. Chase Simon led Detroit with 14 points, coming on 5-of-14 shooting; Holman was the only other Titan in double figures, finishing with 12 points.
Conversely, the Flames knocked down 47 percent of their attempts, including a 10-of-22 mark from three-point range. Barnes went 3-of-4 from long range, finishing with 14 points, while Hayden Humes joined the pair with 10 points.
Wright State 64, Loyola 48
Forcing 15 turnovers in the first half, Wright State was able to cruise to a 64-48 win over Loyola at Gentile Arena.
Wright State (7-8, 2-1 Horizon) converted those 15 Loyola (5-8, 0-3 Horizon) miscues into 16 points in the opening 20 minutes, taking a 28-18 lead into the locker room. The Raiders would leave no doubt in the game in the first 7:05 of the second half, opening the half on a 21-4 run.
The Raiders would get three-pointers on five of six possessions, with Vance Hall, Reggie Arceneaux, Julius Mays and John Balwigaire all knocking down triples in the stretch, which put Wright State up, 49-22 with 11:30 to play. Loyola would come no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
Mays led all scorers with 23 points, including a 10-of-11 mark from the free-throw line. Wright State went 10-for-25 from three-point range and limited Loyola to 13-for-33 shooting from the floor to compound the Ramblers' struggles on the night.
Ben Averkamp, who entered the night with four consecutive games with 20 or more points, was held to five points on the night while struggling through foul trouble. Walt Gibler led Loyola with 12 points, with Christian Thomas adding 11.
