West Virginia tops DePaul
And the streak goes on.
DePaul lost its 25th straight Big East game Saturday as No. 25 West Virginia controlled most of the game and prevailed 82-71 over the visiting Blue Demons.
Brandon Young led DePaul with 14 points, while Jimmy Drew added 13 and Krys Faber and Tony Freeland both had 11.
“I’m sure it grinds on them,” coach Oliver Purnell said. “We’ve been playing better. We’re just not playing good enough to win or to close out games. They’ve done an outstanding job in the face of adversity, but it’s tough to take for anyone.”
Following its strong first half, West Virginia (16-8, 7-5) needed some time to extend a 13-point halftime lead. The Mountaineers made just 4 field goals over the first 10 minutes of the second half, and Michael Bizoukas made a layup to cut DePaul’s deficit to 59-48.
Jeremiah Kelly’s 3-pointer with 2:48 left brought the Blue Demons within 74-67, but DePaul (6-18, 0-12) scored just 4 points the rest of the game.
Loyola 79, Green Bay 62:
Geoff McCammon scored 22 points, and Ben Averkamp added 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead Loyola to a victory against visiting Wisconsin-Green Bay (12-14, 6-8 Horizon). Terrance Hill had 16 points for the Ramblers (14-12, 5-10), who snapped a four-game losing skid.
A 9-0 run early in the second half — comprised of consecutive 3-pointers, by McCammon and 2 by Hill — gave Loyola a 44-26 cushion, and the Ramblers later pushed the lead to 20.
Kent State 84, NIU 77: Despite Xavier Silas#146; 34 points and 11-of-20 shooting from the field, host NIU (7-16, 3-8 MAC) fell to Kent State (17-7, 8-2). Rodriquez Sherman scored 25 points on 8-of-13 shooting.Silas was fifth in Division I in scoring at 23.7 points per game before Saturday#146;s contest. While he hit 55 percent of his shots, the rest of the Huskies made just 16 of 43 shots (37 percent).Wis.-Milwaukee 70, UIC 59:Anthony Hill scored a career-high 32 points to lead Wisconsin-Milwaukee (15-11, 10-5 Horizon) past host Illinois-Chicago.The Panthers, who won their fifth straight, led almost the entire way and were ahead by as many as 16 points early in the second half.Robo Kreps led the Flames (7-20, 2-13) with 24 points and tied his career high of 9 rebounds.