Valpo & YSU Wrap Up Tourneys With Wins

Men's Basketball Scoreboard (Nov. 23)
Valparaiso 93, Maine 70
Youngstown State 76, UNC Greensboro 67
Southern Illinois 67, UIC 60

Valparaiso 93, Maine 70
Sophomore Alec Peters (Washington, Ill./Washington) set a new career high on Sunday morning, pouring in 31 points, including 22 in the first half, as Valparaiso rolled to a 93-70 win over Maine in its finale at the Central Michigan Tournament.  Peters and senior Vashil Fernandez (Kingston, Jamaica/Princeton Day [Md.] Academy) represented the Crusaders on the All-Tournament Team.

Peters dominated from the get-go on Sunday en route to his new career best, scoring eight points in the first three minutes of the game.  At the break, the sophomore had 22 points – the most points in a half since Lavonte Dority poured in 22 in the first half at UIC last season – on 6-of-9 shooting from the field and 9-of-10 from the foul line.  Peters then added three 3-pointers in the second half, the last of which put him over his previous career best of 30.  Peters finished with 31 points on 9-of-13 shooting in just 21 minutes of action and added six rebounds as well.

Meanwhile, Fernandez enjoyed another stellar game, finishing with six points, six rebounds and six blocked shots.  The six rejections is the second-most in a game for Fernandez over his three years as a Crusader, coming just two days after he swatted five shots against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  The senior also set a new career high with four steals, leading a Valpo defensive effort which tallied 14 thefts, its most in a game since Dec. 22, 2012.

Peters’ quick start helped spark an early Crusader run which gave them a lead they would never come close to losing.  The sophomore had eight of Valpo’s first ten points, and a triple from freshman Tevonn Walker (Montreal, Quebec/Vanier College) made it 13-2 just 3:16 into the game.  After an empty trip, Fernandez came up with an offensive rebound and slam, followed by a steal and fast-break layup from junior Keith Carter (Maywood, Ill./Proviso East [Saint Louis]) to make it 17-2 Crusaders with 15:38 left in the first half.

Maine would put together one rally, closing to within eight points at 24-16 with 11:11 left in the opening period, but the Crusaders promptly scored on five of their next six possessions.  Four different Valpo players made baskets in that stretch, capped by a triple from junior Darien Walker (Chicago, Ill./Simeon [John A. Logan/Arizona Western]) which made it 34-19 at the 8:32 mark.  The lead reached 20 points for the first time on a mid-range jumper from Peters with 4:20 left in the half, and eventually Valpo would score the last seven points of the half, capped by a driving layup by Carter just before the horn, to go into the break with a 53-28 lead.

Valpo never let the Black Bears get any closer than 22 points in the second half, and the lead reached 30 for the first time on the second of back-to-back triples by sophomore Nick Davidson (Munster, Ind./Andrean) with 15:07 remaining.  Peters’ third 3-pointer of the half, the one which finished out his 31-point night, came with 12:34 to play, and on the Crusaders’ next possession, Tevonn Walker finished an old-fashioned 3-point play as the Valpo lead reached its peak at 75-42.  The result was academic from that point as the Crusaders closed out the perfect weekend.

Three Crusaders joined Peters in double figures on Sunday morning.  Tevonn Walker matched his season best with 16 points, going 6-of-10 from the field in just 17 minutes of action.  Darien Walker added 11 points in 21 minutes, while freshman David Skara (Zadar, Croatia/Ekonomska Skola Zadar) knocked down four of his five shots in the second half for ten points.  Valpo shot 53.3% (32-of-60) from the field on Sunday and were 12-of-21 from beyond the 3-point line – its third game with at least ten 3-point makes this season.  Carter and junior E. Victor Nickerson (Atlanta, Ga./Norcross [Charlotte]) paced the Crusaders with four assists apiece.

Maine (0-4) also placed four players in double digits, paced by 16 points from Shaun Lawton, while Kevin Little added 15 points.  The Crusaders forced 23 turnovers from the Black Bears and scored 32 points off those miscues.

Youngstown State 76, UNC Greensboro 67
Sophomore Marcus Keene scored a career-high 28 points and junior Bobby Hain posted 20 points with nine rebounds to lead the Youngstown State men's basketball team to a 76-67 win over UNCG on Sunday afteroon at the EMU Showcase.

Keene connected on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, including a career-best six 3-pointers, while Hain just missed a double-double with nine rebounds.

With the win, Youngstown State improves to 3-3 while UNCG falls to 1-4.

Senior DJ Cole dished out nine assists with seven points while senior Shawn Amiker added nine points with a team-high 10 rebounds.

The Penguins made a season-high nine 3-pointers, shot 46 percent from the floor and went 21-of-27 (77.8 percent) from free throw line.

UNCG was led by RJ White with 20 points and 12 rebounds while Tevon Saddler added 11 points.

The Penguins withstood a 22-5 run and overcame a seven-point second-half deficit and led for the final 13:30 of the game.

Trailing, 39-32, just minutes into the second half, Keene drilled a  3-pointer and Amiker hit a jumper to get the Penguins within two. After the Spartans rebuilt their lead back to five, 46-41, the Penguins went on a 20-6 run to take a nine-point lead, 61-52, with 6:17 left.

A pair of 3-pointers by White and Clay Byrd brought the Spartans within three, 61-58, and a Saddler layup kept the lead at three, 63-60, at the 3:34 mark.

A jumper by Cole and a free throw by Amiker pushed the lead up to six, 64-58, and the Penguins made their final 10 free throws over the last 1:36 to seal the victory.

Trailing by one, 17-16, midway through the first half, the Penguins went on an 11-0 run sparked by 3-pointers by Keene and Cole and an old-fashioned three-point play by Hain to take a 27-17 lead with 7:14 left in the first half.

Southern Illinois 67, UIC 60
The UIC men’s basketball team (1-4) was defeated by Southern Illinois (2-3) in the final day of competition at the Men Against Breast Cancer Classic on Sunday by a final score of 67-60.  Fifth-year transfer Jay Harris piloted the Flames with 19 points, shooting 8-of-14 from the field, while junior D'Juan Miller tallied a Division-I career-high with 16 points.

Despite facing a 21-point deficit, UIC continued to fight and eventually pulled to within seven points of the Salukis during the game’s final seconds. The Flames outscored SIU in the final period, 39-32, after being down 14 points at halftime.

“Our first half needs to be at the same level as our second half,” said head coach Howard Moore. “We have become a good second half team and now we need to put together a full 40 minutes of basketball.”

The Salukis led wire-to-wire as they jumped out to a quick 21-5 lead by the 8:03 mark.  Southern Illinois was superb from the field in the first half, hitting 13-of-23 (56.5%) and 4-of-7 (57.1%) from three-point range.  SIU was paced by All-MVC guard Anthony Beane who poured in a game-high 27 points, including 19 in the final frame.

The Flames’ defense intensified their pressure in the second half and forced 10 SIU turnovers, converting those miscues into 11 points.  The Salukis committed 19 total turnovers on the day as UIC collected nine steals.

The Flames maintained their poise at the free throw line by going 16-of-18 (88.9%), while bettering their league-leading average to 82.3 percent. Eight separate UIC players are shooting above 80 percent from the charity stripe this season.

Freshman Tai Odiase continues to be one of the Horizon League’s top rim protectors as he totaled three blocked shots today, bringing his season count to a team-high of 10.