Bradley 61, Toledo 59
Ohio 84, Chicago State 61
No. 13 Michigan State 83, Eastern Michigan 67
No. 25 Michigan 96, Bowling Green 82
Northern Kentucky 74, Ball State 73
Butler 66, Western Michigan 62
Northern Illinois 60, UIC 58
Canceled Games
● Akron at Middle Tennessee
● Gannon at Buffalo
Sophomore guard Dae Dae Grant scored a career-high 21 points, while junior forward James Beck opened his Miami career with a double double of 14 points and 10 rebounds as the RedHawks opened on a winning note.
North Dakota trailed by six at intermission and was down by seven with 10:46 remaining. Precious Ayah's put-back then started an 8-0 RedHawk run and Miami's lead dipped into single digits (9 points) just once more the rest of the way.
Miami connected on 50.9 percent from the field and went 5-of-14 (35.7%) from outside the arc. Mekhi Lairy hit all 10 of his charity tosses and MU hit 18-of-22 at the stripe overall.
Caleb Nero (16) and Filip Rebraca (15) led the Fighting Hawks, who hit 38.9 percent (38.9%) from the field and 25.9 percent on treys.
CINCINNATI, Ohio - Toledo controlled play for the majority of its season opener but a last-second shot from Bradley's Terry Nolan Jr. sent the Rockets to a 61-59 setback in their first game of the Xavier Invitational in Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Junior Setric Millner Jr. led the way offensively in his Toledo debut, tallying 17 points, six rebounds, two steals and two assists in 31 minutes. Also scoring in double digits for the Rockets were senior Marreon Jackson (15 pts., team-high four assists), senior Spencer Littleson (10 pts.) and freshman Ryan Rollins (10 pts.). Junior Jonathan Komagum led Toledo with seven rebounds in 12 minutes in his first game in a Midnight and Blue uniform.
Bradley also put four players in double figures with senior Elijah Childs notching a team-best 14 points. Nolan finished with 10 points, including his game-winning runner with 0.8 seconds left.
Toledo had rallied from a 58-53 deficit with 2:41 remaining before Nolan's shot. Millner began the comeback with a jumper in the lane and Littleson followed with a three-pointer at the 1:50 mark to make it a one-point game. Rollins then evened the score by hitting one of two free throws with 38.5 seconds left.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – After months of waiting and anticipation, the Ohio men's basketball team (1-0) tipped-off the 2020-21 season Wednesday evening (Nov. 25), defeating Chicago State (0-1), 84-61, inside State Farm Center on the campus of Illinois.
"Our goal after today was to be 1-0 and obviously we did that," second-year head coach Jeff Boals said. "I thought we did a lot of really good things. Shooting 58 percent from the field and 42 percent from three. But there's a lot of things that we can get better at. Rebounding, free throws and I thought we had some careless turnovers. But we got some valuable minutes for the freshmen and new guys and they're going to continue to get better and better game-by-game."
Overall, Ohio shot 58.3 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from three-point range and 60.6 percent from the free throw line, while Chicago State shot 35.1 percent from the field, 20.0 percent from three and 85 percent from the free throw line. The Bobcats out-rebounded the Cougars, 33-27, while Ohio dished out 15 assists to their nine.
Individually, sophomore guard Lunden McDay (Akron, Ohio) led the way with 15 points, going 4-of-7 from the field, 3-of-5 from three-point range and 4-for-4 from the free throw line. Junior guard Jason Preston (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 11 points, going 5-of-9 form the field. While grabbing six rebounds and dishing out a team-high eight assists in 30 minutes on the court. Redshirt junior forward Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.) finished with 11 points, going 4-for-4 from the field, 1-for-1 from three and 2-for-3 from the free throw line. Senior forward Dwight Wilson III (Tallahassee, Fla.) added 10 points and seven rebounds in his Bobcat debut.
For Chicago State, Lou Demuth led with 12 points and six rebounds, followed by Jordan Polynice with 11 points.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team dropped an non-conference affair, 83-67, at No. 13/12 Michigan State University tonight, Nov. 25, inside the Breslin Center to open the 2020-21 season.
EMU (0-1) finished the contest on an 8-4 scoring run, showcased by a redshirt junior Miles Gibson fastbreak layup, but the Spartans (1-0) prevailed with an 83-67 victory.
Senior Yeikson Montero led the Eagles with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and posted a team-high six rebounds. Redshirt senior Ty Groce added 14 points and tied a career-best with three blocks, while senior Darion Spottsville and Gibson recorded 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Eastern Michigan finished the evening with a 40.6 field-goal percentage (26-of-64), while the Spartan shot 54.5 percent (30-of-55). The Eagles forced 18 MSU turnovers earning 29 points off turnovers, while EMU committed just nine giveaways. Eastern held the steal advantage as well, at 8-2. However, MSU pulled down 37 rebounds to Eastern's 29.
The Eagles opened the first half with stellar defense holding the Spartans scoreless for the first two minutes of the contest. Over the next six minutes, Michigan State posted a 17-10 scoring stint before Montero sparked the EMU offense with a jumper in the paint with 11 minutes left in the first scoring stanza.
The Eagles went on a 9-2 scoring drive highlighted by a Groce dunk and Gibson triple to tie the game up at 19-all. After a media timeout, a Foster Loyer deep three started a 16-4 run for the Spartans to take the 35-23 lead at the 3:39 mark. EMU trailed by 12 (43-27) to head into the locker room.
To start the second half, the Spartans come out with a 9-6 scoring run to take the 52-33 lead. Over the next two minutes, Eastern Michigan started a 6-2 stint highlighted by a Montero layup from a behind-the-back pass from Groce to cut MSU's lead to 54-39.
The scoring went back-and-forth throughout the rest of the second half, but the score deficit favored the Spartans, ending in a 83-67 MSU win.
ANN ARBOR, MI -- Bowling Green opened its 2020-21 season on Wednesday with a 96-82 setback at No. 25 Michigan.
The Falcons trailed by just seven at the half and got as close as five points in the second half. BGSU was within nine points with 8:58 left in regulation, but UM's Chaundee Brown hit a three to push the lead back to 12 and the Wolverines led by double digits the rest of the way.
Brown, a Wake Forest transfer that was deemed immediately eligible by the NCAA, proved to be the difference in the ballgame. Brown finished with a team-high 19 points. He went 5-for-6 from deep in the second half alone to carry the Wolverines to the finish line.
Senior Trey Diggs had a similar second-half outburst, scoring all 21 of his points in the second half and doing so by going 6-for-8 from downtown over the final 20 minutes. Fifth-year senior Justin Turner led all players with 24 points, while fellow senior Daeqwon Plowden posted 15 points and a team-high 7 rebounds.
INDIANAPOLIS – In its 2020-21 season opener on the road the Western Michigan Broncos hung tough with Big East Conference Opponent Butler in a 66-62 loss on Wednesday night inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
It was a back and forth battle between the Broncos and the Bulldogs as the two teams combined for 13 ties and nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than eight on Wednesday night with WMU outscoring Butler in the second half, 36-34.
As a team the Broncos shot 46 percent from the field and were a staggering 9-of-18 from behind the three-point line. WMU outrebounded Butler, 34-32, with the Bulldogs holding a 7-2 advantage on the offensive glass. WMU scored 20 points in the paint against the Bulldogs and registered five blocks.
Western Michigan had three players score in double figures led by sophomore guard B. Artis White with 17 points. White shot an efficient 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from long distance. The Canton, Mich., native was tied for the team lead with seven rebounds and led the team with five assists.
Fellow sophomore Titus Wright continued the success he had from his All-MAC Freshman team campaign a year ago with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field in 29 minutes.
The Broncos had two players off the bench score in double figures with senior Rafael Cruz Jr. tallying 14 points and junior Patrick Emilien with 11. Cruz Jr. was 5-of-7 from the field and knocked down two three-pointers to go along with two rebounds. Emilien was 4-of-8 from the field with three coming from long distance. Emilien's three three-pointers matched a career-high.
In his Bronco debut senior Greg Lee was tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while having six points and two assists. Lee was 3-of-10 from the field in 23 minutes of action.
Northern Kentucky 74, Ball State 73
INDIANAPOLIS – In its 2020-21 season opener on the road the Western Michigan Broncos hung tough with Big East Conference Opponent Butler in a 66-62 loss on Wednesday night inside Hinkle Fieldhouse.
It was a back and forth battle between the Broncos and the Bulldogs as the two teams combined for 13 ties and nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than eight on Wednesday night with WMU outscoring Butler in the second half, 36-34.
As a team the Broncos shot 46 percent from the field and were a staggering 9-of-18 from behind the three-point line. WMU outrebounded Butler, 34-32, with the Bulldogs holding a 7-2 advantage on the offensive glass. WMU scored 20 points in the paint against the Bulldogs and registered five blocks.
Western Michigan had three players score in double figures led by sophomore guard B. Artis White with 17 points. White shot an efficient 5-of-8 from the field and 3-of-4 from long distance. The Canton, Mich., native was tied for the team lead with seven rebounds and led the team with five assists.
Fellow sophomore Titus Wright continued the success he had from his All-MAC Freshman team campaign a year ago with eight points on 4-of-9 shooting from the field in 29 minutes.
The Broncos had two players off the bench score in double figures with senior Rafael Cruz Jr. tallying 14 points and junior Patrick Emilien with 11. Cruz Jr. was 5-of-7 from the field and knocked down two three-pointers to go along with two rebounds. Emilien was 4-of-8 from the field with three coming from long distance. Emilien's three three-pointers matched a career-high.
In his Bronco debut senior Greg Lee was tied for the team lead with seven rebounds while having six points and two assists. Lee was 3-of-10 from the field in 23 minutes of action.
DEKALB, Ill. – Illinois-Chicago (UIC) finished on a 13-1 run to edge the Northern Illinois Huskies, 65-61, Wednesday night at the NIU Convocation Center. The Flames made 11 three-pointers, including seven in the second half, and shot 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the field, 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from three in the second stanza.
Junior Darius Beane and sophomore Tyler Cochran led the Huskies with 13 points, junior Trendon Hankerson added 10 points.
“It was a tale of two halves,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “I thought we played our best basketball in the first half, especially on the defensive end, we held them to 23 percent, from both the two and the three."
“Unfortunately it’s a 40-minute game, we took our foot off the pedal, UIC made some plays, we had some breakdowns, we just didn’t flow as well in the second half.”
Both team shot nearly identical percentages from the field as NIU finished at 40.4 percent (23-of-57) and UIC finished at 40 percent (24-of-60), but the Flames connected on 11 triples to just three for NIU.
Teyvion Kirk and RayQuawndis Mitchell each scored 12 points to lead UIC, Zion Griffin added 11 points and Braelen Bridges chipped in 10.