Weather issues headlined the weekend in the Horizon League with tip times being changed and the lone game Sunday being postponed. But that didn’t prevent the league from putting forth another entertaining week, headlined by upsets of the top two teams in their home arenas. Since no team won more than one game on the week, the recap shifted back to a “Wins of the week” section to highlight the upsets.
Wins of the week
Cleveland State has now won two straight games after a couple winless weeks in the league. The Vikings
went into the Nutter Center and took down the top team in the league, Wright State, 85-79, in one of Wednesday’s shocking results.
As has been the case for Cleveland State most of the season, even in losses, Dayan Nessah was a bright spot. He did everything, pouring in 31 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks on Wednesday. Tre Beard and Jaidon Lipscomb added 18 and 15 points, respectively. Chevalier Emery scored 10 off the bench and blocked two shots.
Six Wright State players scored double figures, but Michael Cooper’s 14 was a team high. The Raiders’ offense was once again balanced, but lacked a scoring explosion to grab the win.
Year one hasn’t gone as smoothly as Rob Summers may have hoped, but now the Vikings can look to build off back-to-back wins over in-state opponents, one of which is leading the league.
IU Indianapolis went to Oakland and took down the Golden Grizzlies, who were coming off a dominant win to claim sole possession of second place, in the second of Wednesday night’s shockers. Most teams struggle at least somewhat with the Oakland zone. The Jaguars, however, scored 102 points on 60% shooting, including 50% from three and needing just three free throw attempts to crack triple digits.
Finley Woodward, Kyler D’Augustino and Jaxon Edwards each scored at least 20 points, and Woodward and D’Augustino added nine and seven assists, respectively. The turnover battle was even, and Oakland made 19 free throws to IU Indianapolis’ two, but “The System” showcased its potential, keeping bodies fresh and putting up a ton of shots. The Jaguars got hot on Wednesday, and it made it too difficult for the Golden Grizzlies to keep pace. After taking down the defending champs recently, a win on the road against a top-two team is even more of a signature win for Ben Howlett.
Notable results
Injury-plagued Milwaukee continued to struggle in the battle between the defending champions and the preseason favorites. Bart Lundy got double-figure scoring outputs from five players and forced 16 turnovers, but with key offensive pieces out, the Panthers defense wasn’t good enough to win the game. Ryan Prather Jr. scored 23 points to lead the Colonials on a day where Andy Toole’s crew shot 58% from the field and 53% from three in an 88-76 win. Milwaukee did, however, bounce back over the weekend with a 65-64 win over Youngstown State.
Wright State had an opportunity to respond to its loss against Cleveland State, but the opponent on Saturday was a Northern Kentucky team which was hungry for a win after a heartbreaking loss to Robert Morris. Dan Gherezgher had 30 for the Norse, but Wright State got 24 from Michael Imariagbe, and Cooper had his first big game since returning from injury, adding 21, to lift the first-place Raiders to a 88-80 victory.
In the second meeting of the week between Robert Morris and a Wisconsin team, Green Bay escaped with a 71-67 win after faltering earlier in the week at Youngstown State. In the first matchup, Doug Gottlieb channeled his inner-Bob Knight. This time around, the Phoenix were victorious and avoided the need for a chair throw, but the game had plenty of drama. Once again, Green Bay led by double digits, holding a 12-point lead with just over eight minutes to play. In the final couple minutes, aided partially by a questionable technical following a C.J. O’Hara dunk, the Colonials made it tight, but O’Hara had a steal to ice the game in the closing seconds.
Oakland, who was in need of a victory after a home loss to IU Indianapolis, responded appropriately in its rivalry game in Detroit. Four Golden Grizzlies starters scored in double figures with the backcourt stealing the show Saturday as Brody Robinson and Ziare Wells each had 24. Tuburu Naivalurua added 16 next to Michael Houge’s 15 up front. Robinson, the league’s lead assist man, dished out another 10 to take down Detroit Mercy 95-87.
Unfortunately, the lone game Sunday between Purdue Fort Wayne and IU Indianapolis was postponed due to weather, eliminating the chance of a high-scoring thriller to end the week.
