Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Dec. 22)
Oakland 100, Robert Morris 94
Bowling Green 64, Detroit 62
UCF 90, Valparaiso 62
Milwaukee 67, Alabama State 54
Oakland 100, Robert Morris 94
Corey Petros, Travis Bader and Dante Williams combined for 72 points in leading Oakland to a 100-94 victory over Robert Morris on Sunday.
Petros had 26 points, Bader 24, and Williams 22 points. Oakland shot 57 percent as a team.
Oakland (4-10) led the Colonials by 17 at intermission on the heels of impressive shooting from the field. Robert Morris (5-8) was unable to make a dent in the lead until the final minutes of the second half on an Anthony Myers-Pate layup making it an 89-81 Oakland lead.
The Colonials resorted to fouling in the final two minutes, but four different Oakland players were able to convert free throws in the final minutes preserving the win for the Golden Grizzlies.
Lucky Jones hit 9-of-16 shooting, including five 3-pointers in a 27 point scoring effort for Robert Morris. Charles Oliver added 18 points.
Bowling Green 64, Detroit 62
Junior co-captain Juwan Howard Jr. and freshman guard Matthew Grant both got shots off in in the closing seconds, but neither went in as the University of Detroit Mercy men's basketball team dropped a close game 64-62 to Bowling Green Sunday afternoon at the Stroh Center.
BGSU (6-5) broke open a 60-60 tie with a free throw and a layup to take a 63-60 lead with 1:36 left in regulation. The Titans answered back with a layup from senior co-captain Evan Bruinsma to make the score 63-62 with 1:22 left. Detroit's defense held the Falcons scoreless on their next possession giving the Titans the opportunity to take the lead. But a turnover with 23 seconds left forced Detroit to foul, where Richaun Holmes made one of two free throws to give BGSU a 64-62 lead. Grant missed an open three-pointer with 11 second left, but Howard grabbed the rebound, before missing a 17-footer from the baseline as time expired.
Howard led Detroit with 17 points, while sophomore guard Anton Wilson finished with 16 points. Bruinsma led the team with a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with six points, while freshman guard Jarod Williams added six points, four assists and three steals.
Detroit (5-8) opened the game with an early 10-2 run, including a pair of three-pointers from Howard and Grant, before BGSU responded with a 7-2 run to make the score 12-9 with 14 minutes left in the first stanza. The Titans answered back with a 12-4 run capped off by a four-point play from Wilson to build a 24-13 lead at the nine minute mark, before the Falcons closed the half with a 22-12 run to trim the lead to 36-35 as both teams entered the locker rooms. Wilson led Detroit with 10 points in the half on 3-of-5 shooting from downtown, while Howard had seven and Williams added six.
Both teams swapped baskets to start the second half before BGSU went on a 10-0 to build its largest lead of the game 47-40 with 13:20 left. But Detroit was able to respond with a 12-1 run, capped off by a three-pointer from Wilson, to retake the lead 52-48 with 10:27 remaining. Bothe teams would exchange baskets for the next six minutes until the score was tied 60-60 with 2:56 left.
Anthony Henderson led BGSU with 15 points, while Jehvon Clarke added 14 with eight assists and Holmes finished with 13 and five rebounds.
Detroit finished shooting 37.7 percent (20-of-53) overall, while BGSU shot 47.8 percent (22-of-46) overall, including 54.2 percent (13-of-24) in the first half. The Titans outrebounded BGSU 34-32 and recorded 11 steals, but turned the ball over 18 times.
UCF 90, Valparaiso 62
Tristan Spurlock scored 22 points and reserve guard Brandon Goodwin added 12 as the University of Central Florida defeated Valparaiso 90-62 in the finals of the Jackson Hewitt Holiday Classic.
Eugene McCrory contributed 11 and Kasey Wilson and Isaiah Sykes had 10 points apiece for UCF (8-3), which won its fifth straight game and avenged an 85-70 loss to Valparaiso earlier this season. The Knights shot 51.7 percent for the game, including 11 of 19 from behind the 3-point line.
Valparaiso got 14 points from LaVonte Dority and 11 from Jubril Adekoya, but couldn't make it a game after shooting just 20 percent (four of 20) in the first half and falling behind by 23 points.
The last two seconds of the first half were representative of the way things went for most of the game. Goodwin nailed a 3-pointer, then Spurlock stole the inbounds pass and was fouled. He made both free throws and the Knights went to halftime with a 43-20 advantage.
UCF played its best half of the season the first 20 minutes, building a 23-point lead on 14 of 29 shooting that included eight of 12 from 3-point land. Spurlock was 3-for-4 on 3-pointers and had 12 points at halftime and Wilson hit 2 of 3 from behind the arc on his way to eight points. The Knights bench contributed 16 points, eight rebounds and no turnovers.
The Knights man-to-man defense dominated Valparaiso, limiting the Crusaders to four of 20 shooting before intermission and forcing 10 turnovers. Valpo scored only two field goals the final 14 minutes of the half and was 1-for-10 from 3-point land.
Valparaiso found a little shooting touch in the second half, but not enough to overcome a leaky defense that let UCF score at will around the basket. The Knights had 10 dunks or layups in the first 10 minutes of the second half while building a 75-43 lead.
Valparaiso shot 51.6 percent in the second half and hit eight 18 3-pointers, but much of that came after UCF benched its starters and let the reserves take over. The Crusaders never got closer than 24 points in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Milwaukee 67, Alabama State 54
Kyle Kelm scored a collegiate-best 24 points and added 12 rebounds as the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee wrapped up the Westin Holiday Classic with a 67-54 win over Alabama State Sunday afternoon at Devlin Fieldhouse.
The Panthers (10-4) led by 12 points at halftime and never let the Hornets (4-5) get closer than eight points in the second half.
Austin Arians made five 3-pointers and added 17 points for the Panthers, while Matt Tiby pitched-in with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Jamel Waters had 14 points and 10 assists to lead Alabama State. But, Milwaukee's defense held the Hornets to just 35 percent shooting from the field
Milwaukee's interior game took control of the contest quickly.
The win was Milwaukee 10th, setting a new school-record for regular season non-league victories.
The victory also allowed Milwaukee to move on from losing a 20-point lead in a loss to Northeastern Saturday. On Sunday, UWM quickly built a double-digit lead and maintained it much of the game.
The Panthers rode a strong performance to a 42-30 lead at the break. Milwaukee again bolted a big lead early on, using a 16-1 run to claim a 16-4 lead in the first five minutes of the game. The advantage exploded out to 29-13 following consecutive threes from Arians and Aaron and was still 34-18 when J.J. Panoske scored on a jump-hook with 5:45 remaining.
The Hornets did battle their way back to within 12 points on a basket by Waters with 1:23 remaining and two free throws by Waters kept it at 42-30 at the break.
Milwaukee pushed the lead out to 17 points at 51-34 following a three-point play by Kelm with 16:11 remaining and still led 56-41 on a layin by Tiby with 10:38 left. Alabama State pulled within 58-50 with 6:35 left but Milwaukee restored a 12-point lead, and again the Hornets pulled within 62-54 before the Panthers scored the final five points of the game.
