#HLMBB Scoreboard (Feb. 25)
Wright State 67, Valparaiso 58
Cleveland State 70, Youngstown State 69 (ot)
UIC 80, Milwaukee 58
With less than a week left in the Horizon League men's basketball regular season, clarity is beginning to settle over the conference following wins by Wright State, Cleveland State and UIC on Tuesday night.
By virtue of its dramatic overtime win against Youngstown State, Cleveland State improved to 11-4 in the Horizon League. Coupled with Valparaiso's loss at Wright State, the Vikings moved two games clear of both the Crusaders and Raiders for second place with one game to play, clinching the tournament's No. 2 seed.
Wright State's win over Valparaiso brought both teams to 9-6 in League play. However, Wright State owns the tie-breaker due to a season sweep of the Crusaders. A victory at UIC on Saturday will wrap the No. 3 seed for the Raiders for the second consecutive season.
Meanwhile, Valparaiso needs a win over Cleveland State on Saturday and a Wright State loss to snag the No. 3 seed. A Crusader loss or a Wright State win sends Valpo to the No. 4 seed.
Wright State 67, Valparaiso 58
Wright State built a nine-point halftime lead, but had to hold off Valparaiso in the second half before defeating the Crusaders 67-58 on Senior Night at WSU's Nutter Center.
Six straight points, four of those coming from JT Yoho, gave the Raiders a 14-8 advantage eight minutes into the contest and the lead grew to 30-18 on four consecutive Cole Darling points, the final two coming on foul shots at the 2:54 mark.
WSU led 32-23 at the break despite the Crusaders shooting 47 percent from the field compared to 41 percent for the Raiders. Valpo, however, attempted just 19 shots while Wright State (17-13, 9-6 Horizon) had 27 attempts thanks in part to forcing 11 turnovers while committing only seven.
The margin was double figures at 49-39 on two AJ Pacher foul shots with 11:19 to play, only to see the Crusaders close to within four at 55-51 on an Alec Peters tip-in at the 4:07 mark.
A jumper and two foul shots by Pacher, though, push the lead back up to eight and the senior forward connected on a three from the top of the key made it 62-53 with 2:27 remaining.
Valparaiso (17-13, 9-6 Horizon) cut the deficit to 63-58 on a three-point play from Moussa Gueye at the 18.9-second mark, but could get no closer as WSU scored the final four points of the contest on two Yoho free throws and a Miles Dixon dunk.
Both teams shot the ball well in the second half as Wright State hit 13-of-26 shots to finish at 45 percent while the Crusaders shot 46 percent the final 20 minutes to end up at 47 percent. WSU hit 15-of-18 free throws compared to 10-of-12 for Valpo.
Pacher led all scorers with 20 for the Raiders, 13 in the second half, while Darling scored all 12 of his points in the first half. Yoho added 10 off the bench.
Peters paced Valparaiso with 11 points while Vashil Fernandez had 10.
Wright State closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 1, at UIC at 2 p.m. EST. The game will be carried live on the Horizon League Network.
Cleveland State 70, Youngstown State 69 (ot)
For the second time in the last three seasons, Cleveland State will be the No. 2 seed in the Horizon League men's basketball tournament. But clinching on Tuesday night did not come easy, as the flu-ravaged Vikings were pushed to their limit before overcoming a game Youngstown State squad, 70-69, in overtime at the Wolstein Center.
Cleveland State reached 20 wins for the fifth time in the last seven seasons, improving to 20-10 overall and 11-4 in the Horizon League, while YSU slipped to 15-15 overall and 6-9 in the League.
It is the 10th time in program history that CSU has won 20 games in a season with head coach Gary Waters claiming five of those seasons.
The game featured nine ties and 12 lead changes.
Anton Grady battled through illness to finish with 14 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal. But he made the play of the night in overtime, sealing the victory when he blocked Kendrick Perry's jumper at the buzzer.
Bryn Forbes finished with 15 points, while Charlie Lee and Trey Lewis scored 10 each. Lee hit all four of his free throws, extending his streak of consecutive made free throws to 31, one shy of tying the CSU record held by Damon Stringer.
Forbes hit three 3-pointers, breaking the CSU single season record for three's in a season. He has 73, besting the old mark of 71 by Trey Harmon in 2011-12.
Ryan Weber tied the game at 60-60 with 2:54 to play in regulation, but neither team would score again as the game went into overtime. The Penguins had two chances inside of four seconds, but Kamren Belin's short baseline jumper was off the mark and Bobby Hain's tip was too strong.
Lee hit two free throws to give CSU a 70-67 lead with 9.2 seconds left in overtime and after Perry hit two free throws on the other end, CSU's inbounds pass went off Lewis' leg, giving YSU the ball with four seconds to play.
Perry got the ball at the top of the key, but Grady stepped out and blocked the shot at the buzzer.
The Penguins took an early 5-4 lead, but CSU responded with 11 straight points to open up a 15-5 point lead, forcing a YSU timeout with 13 minutes to play. YSU came out of the timeout and went on an 18-6 run, capped by three straight three-pointers, to give the Penguins a 23-21 lead with 5:34 to play.
The Vikings led at halftime, 30-28.
Perry tied for team-high honors with 17 points, while Hain recorded his seventh double-double of the year with 10 points and matched his career high with 17 boards. Weber's five 3-pointers set a new career mark for the YSU sophomore.
The Vikings will return to action on Saturday, March 1, when CSU concludes the regular season with a 4 p.m. EST contest at Valparaiso. The game will be broadcast live on SportsTime Ohio as part of the Horizon League Network Regional TV package.
UIC 80, Milwaukee 58
UIC blitzed Milwaukee on the Panthers' Senior Night, snapping its 17-game losing streak with an 80-58 victory at U.S. Cellular Arena.
UIC (6-23, 1-14 Horizon) won for the first time since Dec. 17, 2013 and picked up its first victory on the road against UWM since March 1, 2008. UIC was piloted by senior Kelsey Barlow who scored a game-high 23 points, his seventh 20-plus point game of the year.
Barlow had 18 of his points in the first half as UIC steadily pulled away over the first 17 minutes of play. Matt Tiby sparked Milwaukee in later stages of the half, but UIC took a 39-27 lead into the locker room.
In the teams' first meeting, Milwaukee whittled away a 13-point halftime deficit in collecting a win at UIC. This time, there would be no such hint of a comeback, as the Flames emphatically maintained control of the game.
A balanced attack saw six Flames - including Barlow - score eight or more points as UIC hit 51.9 percent of its attempts on the night. Jordan Harks was the lone Flame to join Barlow in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Kyle Kelm led Milwaukee with 12 points on his senior night, while classmate Jordan Aaron chipped in 10 in a one-game reprieve from a team suspension. Tiby also added 10.
Milwaukee shot just 31.6 percent for the game.
