Standings Shaken Again After Milwaukee, Detroit, Valpo Wins

Men’s Basketball Scoreboard (Feb. 4):
Detroit 65, Butler 61
Milwaukee 81, Green Bay 75
Valparaiso 63, Wright State 54

As the end of the Horizon League regular season draws closer, the intensity in each game increases exponentially. Milwaukee, Detroit and Valparaiso were able to capture key wins on Saturday, helping shuffle the League standings and gain tie-breaker advantages.

Detroit 65, Butler 61
In front of a raucous Hinkle Fieldhouse, Detroit collected a key Horizon League win with a 65-61 victory over Butler on Saturday afternoon.

Detroit (13-12, 7-6 Horizon) moved into a tie with Butler (13-12, 7-6 Horizon) in the League standings, but with the series sweep of the Bulldogs hold a key tie-breaker should the teams remain tied at the end of 18 conference games.

At the outset, it was Butler who had the better run of play, as Erik Fromm and Chrishawn Hopkins knocked down three-pointers to bring the sold-out crowd of 10,000 to their feet. However, After the Butler start, Detroit tightened the screws defensively as the teams took turns trading physical play. Ronald Nored’s face exemplified the toughness of the game, as the senior split his lip and cracked a tooth during a scramble for a loose ball.

With Nored out, Butler was forced to scramble its backcourt and Detroit took control of the run of play in the first half. The Bulldogs held a 16-10 lead before Indianapolis native P.J. Boutte and Ray McCallum executed a flawless 2-on-1 fastbreak, with Boutte feeding a streaking McCallum with a behind-the-back pass that sparked a 7-0 Detroit run. The Titans would take the momentum into the locker room, leading 28-27.

However, Butler would open the second half with an Andrew Smith dunk to once again reenergize the capacity crowd. But McCallum, voted preseason player of the year in the Horizon League, would knock down a three to counter the dunk and give Detroit a 31-29 lead. It wound up being be the final lead change, but the game remained in doubt until the final seconds.

McCallum's jumper with seven minutes to play gave Detroit its largest cushion at 56-47, but it would be short-lived.  Butler scored the next six points and got the crowd back in full throat. As McCallum began to assert control of the Detroit offense, he got to the lane and kicked to Chase Simon, who was fouled on his three-point attempt.

With the crowd at full bore, Simon missed all three, but Donavan Foster snared a rebound that took the air out of the Hinkle crowd. McCallum would drive once more and convert two free throws to put the Titans up, 60-55, with 4:04 left.

Once more, the Bulldogs again trimmed it to three and with under 30 seconds left, had two opportunities to tie with an extended trip that had two offensive rebounds. McCallum would split to free throws to seal the deal.

McCallum had four rebounds and four assists to go along with his game-high 20 points.  Eli Holman led a Detroit bench attack that outscored Butler's reserves, 23-6.  Holman put in 13 points and had seven rebounds, three blocks and three steals.  Simon contributed 11 points and four assists.

Smith led Butler with 18 points, while Roosevelt Jones notched a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out in the waning seconds. Fromm, making his second career start in place of the injured Khyle Marshall, recorded 10 points, his third straight game in double figures. Nored, dispite missing time due to the split lip, matched his career high with nine assists.

Milwaukee 81, Green Bay 75
The Horizon League Network Game of the Week proved to be another thriller, with Milwaukee rebounding from a disappointing midweek loss to hand Green Bay an 81-75 defeat at the Resch Center.

Milwaukee (15-10, 8-5 Horizon) led most of the way, but a resilient Green Bay (9-13, 5-7 Horizon) squad knotted the game midway through the second half and held on by hitting 15-of-18 free throws in the game.

The loss was just the second of the year for Green Bay at the Resch Center this season.

Milwaukee built a 10-point lead early in the second half, going up 42-32 after a James Haarsma layup with 18:25 left, but the Phoenix fought back to tie the game at 53 behind Keifer Sykes, who had 11 of his game-high 25 points in helping Green Bay knot the contest with 10:42 remaining.

After Alec Brown’s free throws with 10:42 tied the game, Green Bay would go three minutes without a point, and by that time, Tony Meier and Paris Gulley combined to give the Panthers the lead for good.

Ryan Allen would extend the lead to eight after a steal and dunk, but a Brennan Cougill three-point play and two Kam Cerroni free throws would draw Green Bay within a possession once more. Milwaukee responded with back-to-back triples, asKyle Kelm and Kaylon Williams would knock down shots to push the Panthers ahead, 69-60, with 2:27 left.

Green Bay would close within a possession on Cerroni’s back, as the sophomore scored nine points in the final 1:27, drawing the Phoenix within 77-75 after three free throws, but Milwaukee went 10-of-13 at the line to seal the game.

Gulley’s perimeter prowess helped Milwaukee lead throughout the first half. The junior led the Panthers with 20 points, 11 of those coming in the first half as he knocked down three triples in the first 20 minutes of play.

Williams added 16 points and eight assists for the Panthers, going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. Kelm came off the bench to chip in 14 points, while Haarsma finished with 11 points.

Brown, on the day he was honored with a bobblehead in his likeness, set the Green Bay career record for blocks, adding two to reach 134 in his career. The sophomore finished with an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double. Cerroni ended the game with 17 points.

Valparaiso 63, Wright State 54
Overcoming 24 turnovers, Valparaiso became the first Horizon League team to knock off the other nine teams in the conference after a 63-54 victory over visiting Wright State at the ARC.

Valparaiso (17-8, 10-3 Horizon) shot 65 percent from the field to overcome the miscues, led by Richie Edwards’ 6-of-7 effort from the floor. The junior notched a team-high 16 points in the win, combining with Matt Kenney and Jay Harris to lend 30 bench points to the Crusaders’ tally.

With 6:20 left in the first half, Valparaiso led just 17-16 before closing the half on a 14-5 burst to take a 10-point lead into the locker room. Edwards had eight of points in the first 20 minutes, sparking a stagnant Crusader offense in the face of one of the Horizon League’s stingiest defenses.

Valparaiso shot a blistering 13-for-19 in the first half, but 15 turnovers threatened to scuttle the shooting prowess. Wright State (11-14, 6-7 Horizon) could not capitalize, however, going just 7-for-27 from the floor.

On the night, the Raiders had just 12 points off the 24 Valparaiso turnovers.

Still, Julius Mays would heat up in the second half, helping Wright State mount several attacks on the Valparaiso lead. Mays finished with 13 of his game-high 20 in the last 20 minutes, drawing the Raiders within 34-28 after a jumper early in the second half.

The Crusaders would respond to open a 42-30 lead midway through the half, but Wright State would threaten repeatedly, with John Balwigaire’s triple slicing the deficit to 52-47 with 6:11 to play. That was as close as Wright State would draw, however, as Edwards drained a three off a feed from Ryan Broekhoff to extend the lead back to eight and Valpo closed the game out at the free throw line.

Kevin Van Wijk notched 13 points, going 4-for-5 from the field, while Kenney added 11 off the bench. Broekhoff was held to just three attempts, but scored all 10 of his points in the second half.

Reggie Arceneaux was the lone Raider to join Mays in double figures, finishing with 11.