By Peyton Wesner
February 20, 2015
16-11 (10-3) Cleveland State
at 21-6 (10-3) Green Bay
16-11 (10-3) Cleveland State
Solid Wins:
-San Francisco 69-65 in Overtime (Home)
-Oakland 65-61 (Home)
-Detroit 70-66 (Home)
-Green Bay 76-62 (Home)
Conference Losses:
-Valparaiso 58-56 (Road)
-Oakland 59-56 (Road)
-Detroit 66-65 (Road)
Last Game:
-Win Against Illinois-Chicago 67-59 (Home)
Key Players:
---#3 Trey Lewis (JR)
-16.9 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.0 APG, & 1.3 SPG.
---#15 Anton Grady (JR)
-13.4 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 1.6 SPG, & 1.4 BPG.
---#42 Marlin Mason (SR)
-8.0 PPG. 4.4 RPG, & 1.0 BPG.
---#1 Andre Yates (SO)
-6.3 PPG & 1.5 SPG.
21-6 (10-3) Green Bay
#8 Best Mid-Major According to CollegeInsider.com
Solid Wins:
-Evansville 64-62 in Semi-Final of Gulf Coast Showcase.
-Florida Gulf Coast 59-45 in Championship of Gulf Coast Showcase.
-#15 Miami (FL) 68-55 (Road)
-Morehead State 66-50 (Home)
-Georgia State 78-61 (Home)
-Detroit 70-64 (Road)
-Valparaiso 51-50 (Home)
Losses to Unranked Opposition:
-Georgia State 72-48 (Road)
-UC Irvine 73-70 in Championship of Holiday Hoops Classic.
-Oakland 69-66 (Road)
-Cleveland State 76-62 (Road)
-Valparaiso 63-59 (Road)
Last Game:
-Win Against Detroit 96-76 (Home)
Key Players:
---#24 Keifer Sykes (SR)
-17.8 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 4.1 APG, & 1.7 SPG.
---#15 Greg Mays (SR)
-12.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, & 1.4 BPG.
---#12 Carrington Love (JR)
-11.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 3.2 APG, & 1.6 SPG.
---#4 Jordan Fouse (JR)
-7.9 PPG, 7.4 RPG, 3.2 APG, 2.1 SPG, & 1.1 BPG.
---#34 Alfonzo McKinnie (SR)
-7.7 PPG & 5.1 RPG.
Prediction:
A week ago today was the Battle for First Place in the Horizon League, tonight is the Battle for Second Place! The Green Bay Phoenix, led by Seniors Keifer Sykes and Greg Mays, were actually defeated in last Friday's Battle for First Place by the Valparaiso Crusaders. The first half of basketball was controled by Valpo as they jumped ahead to a 29-23 lead at the halftime break thanks to nine of Tevonn Walker's game-high twenty points. The second half contained more back and forth action as the Phoenix soared back from a thirteen point deficit at the score of 53-40 to make the margin two. Unfortunately, the Crusaders' lead would not lower for Green Bay as they eventually lost the game 63-59. The Horizon League's leading scorer coming into last Friday, Keifer Sykes, struggled greatly in the matchup and shot two for thirteen from the field for seven points. But Sykes was not the only player unable to put the ball in the basket as Green Bay shot a collective 32.7% from the floor. The leading scorer on the evening ended up being Carrington Love with fifteen points. The following game for Sykes' Phoenix have a much different result. The opponent was the Detroit Titans, who also feature a great Senior scorer in Juwan Howard Jr., and Green Bay decided on that night to take out all their frustration from the Valparaiso loss on the Titans. Sykes finally broke out of his six game shooting slump that saw him average 10.8 points per game at 31.0% from the field to score twenty-three points on eight for fifteen shooting. The crazy part is that Sykes was not the high scorer in the game or on his team that was Greg Mays who shot ten for fifteen from the field for thirty-four points! If Mays and Sykes are as hot as they were against Detroit, I believe it is safe to say that Green Bay will win the Battle for Second Place. Green Bay's opponent tonight, the Cleveland State Vikings, also was also defeated last Friday in their conference game, but in heartbreaking fashion. The Vikings were trailing for most of the game and at one point were down fifteen points in the second half, but behind twenty-three points from star Senior Trey Lewis, Cleveland State tied the game at 59 with 1:51 left in the game. Later Lewis drained a three to give Cleveland State the lead, but It all came down to a Detroit possession with fourteen seconds left in the game and the Vikings up two. Detroit's Juwan Howard Jr. caught the ball from way beyond the three point line and decided to attempt a game winning three pointer. The ball soared through the air and dropped through the hoop with five seconds left and the Titans up one. The Vikings took a timeout and drew a play for guard Charlie Lee. Lee caught the ball, rushed downcourt, and attempted a layup off to the left of the basket for the win. The ball fell halfway down, but then spun out. Titans win! In Cleveland State's next game, the Vikings defeated the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames 67-59, setting up today's showdown in Green Bay. Now you may be thinking, "why is a battle for second place in the Horizon League important?" Seeding in the Horizon League is much more important than other conferences because the highest seed in the championship game hosts the match. This evening two of the best players in the Horizon League, Green Bay's Keifer Sykes and Cleveland State's Trey Lewis, will try to outperform the other in order to hold the second place in the standings at the end of the night. Ultimately though, I believe the Green Bay Phoenix will prevail at home since they have more offensive weapons than the Vikings to along with home-court advantage. Lastly, I expect Keifer Sykes to have a huge game to get himself at the top of the points per game leaderboard for the Horizon League.
---Green Bay 67, Cleveland State 61
PW's Prediction Record Coming into Today: 170-60 (59-16 in the MVC)
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