YOUNGSTOWN—D.J. Cole banked in a driving bucket with 2.5 seconds left to lift Youngstown State to a 62-60 win over Loyola in the first round of the Horizon League tournament Tuesday night.The teams’ regular-season meetings also were decided in the final seconds, with the Penguins winning 68-66 on Jan. 5 and 60-59 on Feb. 7.This time, Youngstown State (17-14) led by eight with 6:01 left but couldn’t maintain its advantage. After Loyola’s Devon Turk tied it with two free throws with 13 seconds left, Cole hit his game-winner. Joe Crisman’s desperation heave from beyond half court was wide.The sixth-seeded Penguins will play No. 3 Wright State on Friday.Blake Allen and Kamren Belin scored 15 apiece for Youngstown State, Cole added 13 and Damian Eargle had 10 points and a Horizon League tournament-record seven blocks.Christian Thomas’ 16 points led the seventh-seeded Ramblers (15-16).

==================================================================

Josh Crittle scored 20 points, Daniel Barnes added 16 and UIC beat Cleveland State 82-59 on Tuesday night in the first round of the Horizon League tournament.Gary Talton added 11 points for the fifth-seeded Flames (17-14), and Hayden Humes and Marc Brown chipped in 10 apiece. UIC shot 49 percent from the floor and was 8 of 17 from 3-point range.Charlie Lee led the eighth-seeded Vikings (14-18) with 17 points, and Bryn Forbes had 16. Cleveland State shot 32 percent and was outrebounded 45-32.The Flames opened the game on a 30-6 run, capped by an Ahman Fells tip-in with 7:10 left in the first half, and the Vikings never got within single digits again.UIC moved on to face No. 4 seed Green Bay, which beat Milwaukee 62-46, on Friday in Valparaiso, Ind. The game will be the Flames’ first in the quarterfinals since the 2008-09 season.