UT MARTIN at KENT STATE - Canceled
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BOWLING GREEN 129, CARLOW 50
OHIO 85, SOUTH CAROLINA UPSTATE 70
MIAMI 80, SPALDING 56
TOLEDO 95, MARSHALL 63
BALL STATE 75, EASTERN ILLINOIS 55
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green Falcons tallied their second straight 100-point game with a 129-50 win over Carlow Tuesday afternoon.
It marked the first time since the 1974-75 season that the Falcons have had back-to-back 100-point outings. The Orange and Brown also set a new program record for assists in a single game with 32. The historic game extends the Falcons' win streak to five, remaining perfect in December and 7-4 on the season. BGSU will now turn its focus to conference competition, beginning with Akron at home on Dec. 29.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Falcons saw a fast start on the scoreboard, utilizing a 15-0 run over less than four minutes of game time to create a 22-5 lead in the early going. Later in the first half, Bowling Green went on a 13-0 run to push its lead to 51-13. The two big runs, combined with the back-and-forth between, formed a 43-8 span in favor of BGSU.
Brenton Mills closed out the first half with a buzzer-beating three, giving the Falcons a 53-point lead at the break with the score at 76-23.
In the second half, BGSU reached 100 points on the scoreboard with 9:32 left in the game following a layup from Matiss Kulackovskis.
Before the end of the game, the Falcons would go on another 12-0 run to bring the score to 122-46. Bowling Green closed on a 26-4 run to capture the 129-50 victory.
STAT LEADERS
Isaac Elsasser: 20 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Trey Diggs: 16 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal
Joe Reece: 15 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal
Daeqwon Plowden: 14 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist
Myron Gordon: 13 points, 7 assists, 3 steals, 2 rebounds
Matiss Kulackovskis: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block
Samari Curtis: 10 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists
Chandler Turner: 10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists
Josiah Fulcher: 7 assists, 5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal
The Falcons will begin play within the Mid-American Conference with their next contest, set for Dec. 29 against Akron. The game is set for 7 p.m. tip-off at the Stroh Center
ATHENS, Ohio – Led by a career-high 33 points from sophomore guard Mark Sears, the Ohio Bobcats (9-2) wrapped up nonconference play Tuesday afternoon, defeating USC Upstate (3-9), 85-70 inside the Convocation Center.
Ohio has finished nonconference play with a 9-2 record and a perfect 7-0 mark in the Convo.
The Bobcats grabbed an early lead and remained in front, but the Spartans hit back-to-back three to cut the Bobcats' lead to 42-35 at the half.
Upstate opened the half with the first three points, cutting the Ohio lead to four before a jumper from Sears got Ohio on the board in the second half, increasing their lead to 44-38 going into the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, Ohio and Upstate traded baskets until the Spartans hit four-straight threes to take a 50-49 lead with 13:09 left in the game.
Ohio retook the lead on a jumper at the buzzer from Sears, however, the Spartans got the points right back to keep the one-point lead at the under-12 media timeout.
Out of the timeout, a dunk from Clayton gave the Bobcats a lead back, before a driving layup from Sears put the Bobcats up three with 9:02 left. After the Spartans again cut the Bobcats lead to one, a three from Vander Plas extended the Ohio lead to 60-56 going into the media timeout.
Both teams traded free throws until Ohio took a six-point lead, before two free throws from Upstate cut the Ohio lead to 64-60 with 5:17 left in the game. A turnaround jumper put Ohio back up seven, however the Spartans responded with a jumper of their own to cut the Ohio lead to 67-62 entering the final media timeout.
Out of the timeout, Roderick drained a corner three to extend Ohio's lead to eight. After Ohio went up 10, Upstate drained another three, however, Sears countered with a trey of his own to give Ohio the 75-65 lead. After the Sears three, he and the rest of the Bobcats were able to hit their free throws down the stretch, helping secure the 85-70 victory for Ohio.
Up next, the Bobcats have about a week off for the holiday break and will return to action on Tuesday, Dec. 28 when they open Mid-American Conference play against Eastern Michigan. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. inside the Convocation Center.
By MIKE SMITH
OXFORD, OH -- Precious Ayah and Isaiah Coleman-Lands tallied 14 points apiece to lead Miami (6-5) over Spalding Tuesday at Millett Hall.
The win broke a five-game losing streak for MU, which had opened the campaign with five straight wins. "We had a great start (and then) we hit some bumps in the road," Miami Head Coach Jack Owens said. "We've been close -- at home and on the road. It was good just to finish the game off and play some other guys."
Both Ayah (15:19) and Coleman-Lands (13:45) played less than half the game as the RedHawks took an early lead and Owens made liberal use of his bench in their final non-conference outing. Eleven players saw at least nine minutes of action. Mekhi Lairy (30:22) saw the most action.
Ayah, who came in leading the conference in field goal percentage at 75%, went 6-7 from the floor. Meanwhile, his 14 points were a season-high for Coleman-Lands.
Joining those two in double figures were Mekhi Lairy (12) and Dae Dae Grant. The latter registered eight assists to tie his season-high on helpers.
Eleven RedHawks recorded points and Miami shot 48.4 percent from the field. After connecting on 9 of 28 (32.1%) outside the arc, MU owned 10 more made field goals overall and eight more 3-point goals. Spalding was just 1 of 14 on treys. The hosts also had a 41-30 edge on the boards.
Jacoby Johnson led Spalding with 11 points, hitting 5 of 9 from the field, including the Golden Eagles only triple. Maxton Campbell, Tylan Mann and Isaiah Lockard contributed 10 apiece.
Miami jumped out to a 10-2 lead and was in front 29-6 with 8:12 remaining. The RedHawks largest lead of the first half was 36-10 at the 4:47 mark. Although Spalding began to find the range, eight straight MU points to end the period left Miami with a 46-23 lead at intermission.
The RedHawks led by 31 during the second half and their advantage never fell below 21 points.
"It's always good to snap a losing streak -- at home, especially," Lairy said. "Now (we can) get a fresh start, go home, get a break, come back, be ready to work and get ready for Buffalo."
The RedHawks open Mid-American Conference play Wednesday (Dec. 29) at Buffalo (4 p.m. ET) and return home to meet Central Michigan Jan. 1 (3:30 p.m. ET).
He continued "We can't wait to get into conference play. ... That's when it gets down to the gritty and you've got to be ready to play every single night."
Asked about the team's health heading into the conference slate, " Owens said "That's a work in progress. ... We're getting close to being healthy, and that would help our team overall."
Forwards James Beck and Javin Etzler have been sidelined most of the year and did not play Tuesday.
TOLEDO, Ohio – Six Rockets scored in double figures as Toledo (8-3) cruised into its holiday break with a wire-to-wire 95-63 domination of Conference USA foe Marshall (7-6) on Tuesday night in Savage Arena.
Sophomore Ryan Rollins topped Toledo with a game-high 23 points, while junior RayJ Dennis contributed 20 points and a team-high five assists. Also scoring in double digits were junior Keshaun Saunders (14 pts.), junior JT Shumate (12 pts.), redshirt freshman Ra'Heim Moss (12 pts.) and junior Setric Millner Jr. (10 pts.).
Senior Taevion Kinsey paced the Thundering Herd with 19 points on 7-of-23 shooting.
Toledo shot 52.8 percent from the field, 57.1 percent (8-of-14) from three-point range and was 11-of-12 (91.7 percent) from the charity stripe. The Rockets limited Marshall to a 32.1 percent shooting mark and 22.9 percent clip (8-of-35) from behind the three-point arc.
Toledo also dominated the glass by a 51-40 margin, with Shumate's nine rebounds leading the way.
Toledo returns to action on Wednesday, Dec. 29 when it begins defense of last year's MAC title vs. Western Michigan. Tip-off time in Savage Arena is set for 7:00 p.m.
FIRST HALF
Toledo surged to an early 16-2 lead and never looked back. RayJ Dennis hit a three-pointer and Setric Millner Jr. followed with a three-point play for the contest's initial six points.
Ryan Rollins then capped off a 10-0 burst with a layup and a dunk for a 16-2 lead at the 16:29 mark.
JT Shumate buried a triple less than two minutes later for a 21-4 cushion.
The Thundering Herd rallied to trim Toledo's lead to 29-21 with 8:12 left in the half but that single-digit deficit was short-lived.
Another 10-0 spurt ignited by a Shumate jumper increased the Rockets' margin to 20 points, 44-24, 4:32 before halftime.
Millner's triple gave Toledo its largest lead of the half, 54-30, 35 seconds before intermission.
Toledo shot 60.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes and limited the visitors to 27.5 percent on its way to a 54-31 halftime advantage.
SECOND HALF
The closest the Thundering Herd came in the second half was 19 points, 54-35, just over two minutes into the second stanza.
Toledo ended any hopes of a Marshall comeback when Dennis hit a three-pointer at the end of a 7-0 spurt to give the Rockets a 75-47 lead with 10:03 to play.
MUNCIE, Ind. – Ball State defeated Eastern Illinois 75-55 Tuesday at Worthen Arena, improving the Cardinals record to 5-6. EIU fell to 2-11.
The Cardinals, now 4-0 at home this season, were led by Payton Sparks with a career-high 16 points. He added eight rebounds. Miryne Thomas tied a season-best mark with 14 points and had three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
Luke Bumbalough finished in double digits for the eighth time this season with a 13-point performance. Bumbalough chipped in with five assists. Mickey Pearson Jr. was the final player in double figures with 10 points to go with three rebounds, an assist, a block and a steal. Tyler Cochran was an absolute force on the defensive side of the ball as he produced 10 rebounds, six assists, and five steals, all were game highs.
Cochran got the game started with a steal and a fast-break layup. After the Panthers scored their first points of the game, Cochran came back down and drained a 3-pointer. On Ball State's next possession, Cochran found Sparks for a layup. Cochran contributed in BSU's first seven points. Thomas added two free throws to extend the Cardinal run to 9-2 to start the game.
The Panthers battled back and took a 19-18 lead with 9:30 left in the first half. Eastern Illinois managed to gain an eight-point lead, 36-28, with just over three minutes left in the first stanza. Ball State was unfazed and regained a 37-36 lead as the game went to the break.
The Cardinals started the second half on fire and opened the period on a 13-2 run. During the run, Bumbalough hit two 3-pointers and Thomas added a 3-ball of his own.
BSU was able to cut the Ball State lead to nine, 52-43, with 12:07 left in regulation.
The Cardinals began to pick up the intensity on the defensive end of the court and it really caused the Panthers to struggle the remainder of the game. At the offensive end of the floor, Ball State continued to have success and saw its lead reach as many as 22 points, 75-53, with 1:22 left in the game. BSU went on to win the contest 75-55.
As a team, Ball State outrebounded Eastern Illinois, 32-27. The Cardinals held a 20-12 advantage in turnovers, which led to 21 points off turnovers with 11 points coming via the fast break.
Kejuan Clements posted a game-high 17 points. Paul Bizimana was the only other Panther in double figures with 13, and he added a team-high seven rebounds. Bizimana blocked a game-high three shots.
The Cardinals make their final trip to Illinois for the regular season for the Mid-American Conference opener against Northern Illinois. The game is scheduled for an 8 p.m. ET tip on Tuesday, Dec. 28.