Three More Men's Basketball Games Come Down to Wire on Saturday

Saturday's Horizon League Men's Basketball Results:
Butler 54, Milwaukee 50
Youngstown State 73, #-/rv Cleveland State 67
Wright State 74, UIC 70 (ot)
Valparaiso 90, Green Bay 87
Detroit 65, Loyola 54

The first three weeks of Horizon League men's basketball play have provided plenty of excitement. Through the first 18 games of the year, 11 have come down to the final minute of regulation, with the average margin of victory being a scant 5.8 points. Saturday was no exception, as Butler, Detroit, Wright State, Valparaiso and Youngstown State all collected wins.

Butler 54, Milwaukee 50
Trailing by 10 points midway through the second half, Butler locked down defensively and got a key Chase Stigall three in the final minute to get past Milwaukee, 54-50, in the Horizon League Game of the Week at Hinkle Fieldhouse.

Butler (8-7, 2-1 Horizon) and Milwaukee (10-5, 3-1 Horizon) were tied at 49 with just under a minute to play when the Bulldogs worked the ball around the perimeter, with Chrishawn Hopkins sending a pass to Ronald Nored on the wing. Nored found Chase Stigall from just to the left of the top of the three-point line, where Stigall drilled the three, his lone triple of the day.

Free throw shooting would rear its ugly head for Milwaukee down the stretch, as James Haarsma split a pair of free throws with 26 seconds left, leaving the Panthers behind, 52-50. After Hopkins missed the front end of a 1-and-1 on the other end, Haarsma grabbed an offensive board and was fouled in the process off a miss by Kaylon Williams. Haarsma missed the first of two again, and Kameron Woods collected the board after Haarsma intentionally missed the second.

Woods drained both of his free throws to seal the result.

Milwaukee led, 40-30, with 13:41 to play after a layup by Christian Wolf, but hit just one field goal in the final 9:35 of play. Butler would take its first lead since halftime on Roosevelt Jones' layup at the 6:13 mark of the second half. Free throws from Williams and Tony Meier would put the Panthers on top by three, 46-43, but Butler would come back on jumpers from Jackson Aldridge and Hopkins to take a 47-46 lead with 138 seconds left.

A Ryan Allen layup and Andrew Smith jump shot would knot the game at 49, setting the stage for Stigall's late-game heroics.

In a defensive struggle, Hopkins and Williams led all scorers with 12 points, while Smith and Allen each had 11. Haarsma added 10 for Milwaukee. The Panthers shot just 34 percent from the field and 6-of-25 from three-point range; Butler was 22-for-53 from the field, but 4-of-17 from behind the three-point arc.

Youngstown State 73, #-/rv Cleveland State 67
Damian Eargle dominated down low, helping Youngstown State shoot 58 percent in a 73-67 win over Cleveland State at the Wolstein Center. After not winning a conference road game since Feb. 9, 2009, the Penguins have already collected two wins on the road this season.

Youngstown State (7-6, 2-2 Horizon) was 8-for-16 from three-point range, with DuShawn Brooks and Ashen Ward each going 3-for-5 from behind the arc. Eargle didn't take a shot from three-point range, but was 8-for-11 from the field, finishing with 20 points and 10 rebounds. 12 of Ward's 15 points came in the second half as the Penguins were able to hold off Cleveland State (12-3, 2-1 Horizon) down the stretch.

Ward keyed the game's decisive 15-6 run with a three-pointer, coming just after Jeremy Montgomery had tied the game at 40 with a three of his own. A three by Blake Allen and jumper by Josh Chojnacki spurred the run. Cleveland State closed within a single point twice, but would come no closer.

With Cleveland State threatening in a 59-58 game with 4:31 to play, Ward drained his second three of the game, then drove for a layup to push the edge to 66-59 with just under two minutes to go and help clinch the win.

The Penguins jumped out to a 19-7 lead on the Vikings midway through the first half before Cleveland State answered with a 13-1 to knot the game at 20. Montgomery caught fire at the end of the half, drained three consecutive threes to close the half, sending the Vikings into the half up, 31-29.

Wright State 74, UIC 70 (ot)
Johann Mpondo scored a career-high 16 points, including six in overtime as Wright State outlasted UIC, 74-70, in overtime, at the UIC Pavilion.

Wright State (8-8, 3-1 Horizon) collected its fourth straight win, including two Horizon League wins to move to the top of the League ladder along with Milwaukee. Julius Mays led the Raiders with 21 points, assisting on Mpondo's three-point play in overtime that pushed Wright State's lead to 65-60 with 1:20 remaining.

Still, UIC (5-9, 1-3 Horizon) had its chances down the stretch as Wright State struggled from the line, allowing the Flames to creep within 70-68 after a Daniel Barnes three with 16 ticks left. Mays split a pair of free throws and Gary Talton brought UIC within a single point, 71-70; on the inbounds, however, Cole Darling found John Balwigaire for a three-point play that clinched the game.

Talton tied the game at 56 with a pair of free throws with 49 seconds remaining in regulation before Mays was able to get to the line, forcing Darrin Williams from the game with his fifth foul. Mays' freebies put Wright State up, 58-56, but Talton returned to the line after a foul by Mays with 19 ticks left, tying the game and setting up overtime.

Williams dominated down low, scoring a game-high 22 points on 7-of-12 shooting and knocking down all eight free throws in 29 minutes before fouling out. Talton scored 21 points for the second straight game, while Marc Brown added 12 for UIC. The Flames went 23-for-28 from the free-throw line. After not shooting a free throw in the first half, Wright State finished 22-of-31.

Valparaiso 90, Green Bay 87
Leading by as many as 18 points, Valparaiso had to hold off a furious Green Bay rally in the final 10 minutes off play, emerging with a 90-87 victory at the ARC.

Valparaiso's (9-6, 2-1 Horizon) League-leading offense clicked on all cylinders throughout, as the Crusaders went 30-for-56 from the floor and 10-of-21 from three-point range. Green Bay (6-8, 2-2 Horizon) countered by going 29-for-49 from the floor, knocking down 12-of-24 attempts from beyond the three-point arc.

The Crusaders built an 18-point lead in the first 18:37 of the game, turning a six-point advantage into a 16-point lead within a 2:26 stretch after an 11-1 run. Jay Harris got the spurt started with a three, while a triple from Matt Kenney pushed the lead to 13 at 33-20; with the Crusaders pushing their big men up the court, Kevin Van Wijk was able to get in transition for a fast break layup that forced Green Bay into a timeout, down 36-20, with 6:19 left in the first half.

Another Kenney three would give Valpo its largest lead of the game, 49-31, before the Phoenix scored the last five points of the half to build momentum for the game's final 20 minutes.

Green Bay whittled away at the deficit behind Alec Brown and Aaron Armstead, who combined for 26 of the team's 51 points in the second half. Back to back threes from Armstead and Steve Baker closed the gap to 76-69 with 5:26 to go before another Armstead triple brought Green Bay within 78-73 with 3:34 left.  Two Kenney layups were sandwiched around a Baker three, making the score, 83-78 with 2:06 to go.

A Brown jumper made it a one possession game, but Harris drained a three to push the gap back to 86-80, but Green Bay would not go quietly. Armstead scored the Phoenix's next five points to make it, 90-87, with four seconds left, and after a missed free throw, the Phoenix needed to three-quarters of the court to tie the game.

Ryan Broekhoff came away with the steal on the pass to seal the win for the Crusaders. Broekhoff finished with 15 points, while Kenney led Valpo with 21 points. Harris and Kenney combined for 38 of Valpo's 42 bench points, while Armstead and Daniel Turner had 30 of Green Bay's 32 points off the bench, with Armstead tallying a career-high 19.

Kevin Van Wijk added 18 for Valpo, going 6-of-7 from the field and matching the effort at the free-throw line. Brown finished with 21, while Keifer Sykes continued his strong play with 17 and Kam Cerroni adding 11.

Detroit 65, Loyola 54
A balanced effort led Detroit past Loyola, 65-54, at Gentile Arena, as the Titans picked up their first win in Horizon League play.

Detroit (7-9, 1-3 Horizon) had four players finish in double figures, led by Chase Simon's 17 points. The effort helped the Titans overcome a 20-point effort from Loyola's (5-9, 0-4 Horizon) Ben Averkamp. Averkamp and Walt Gibler each posted double-doubles, with Gibler posting 10 points and each player collecting 11 boards.

With Loyola up 22-16 with 5:16 left in the first half, Detroit's defense took over, holding the Ramblers to one field goal the rest of the way to finish the half on a 9-2 run. Eli Holman's layup with 1:11 remaining in the half tied the game at 24, before Doug Anderson's three-point play in the final minute put Detroit ahead, 27-24 at the break.

Detroit never trailed in the second half, holding a three-possession advantage most of the final 10 minutes. A Denzel Brito layup would bring the Ramblers within 44-39 with 8:44 to play, but Chase Simon answered with a three to push the lead back to eight. Loyola would come no closer than seven the rest of the way.

Anderson would finish with 14 points, while Ray McCallum added 13 and Holman 12.