Buffalo 81, Kent State 67
Toledo 89, Ball State 70
Eastern Michigan 64, Western Michigan 63
Miami at Akron -- Cancelled
Ohio at Bowling Green - Cancelled
MT. PLEASANT, Mich. -- Junior Trendon Hankerson scored a new career-high 27 points as Northern Illinois outlasted Central Michigan, 79-74, on Friday evening at McGuirk Arena.
Junior Darius Beane added 16 points and senior Nathan Scott netted a season-high 13.
“I thought we were connected today. The energy was good, although we made some mistakes at the beginning, and we missed some shots,” said NIU interim head coach Lamar Chapman. “The sharing of the ball was a positive. We had worked on zone, but not a lot, and I planned on using it, but not as much (as I did).
“Central (Michigan) started to figure things out (during its second half comeback) and to have those key possessions down the stretch and come out with a win was great."
NIU (3-16, 2-12 MAC) led by six, 72-66, after a pair of free throws by Beane with 2:37 to play, but Central Michigan answered with the next six to tie the game with a minute to go.
On the next possession, Hankerson drained a pullup jumper as the Huskies went back in front by a pair. Following a defensive stop, sophomore Tyler Cochran muscled his way to the rim for an old-fashioned three-point play, giving NIU a 77-72 lead with 21 seconds remaining.
After a basket by Central Michigan (7-16, 3-13 MAC) to get back within three, Beane put the game away with a pair of free throws.
NIU went 15-of-16 (93.8 percent) from the charity stripe, including a perfect 5-of-5 from Hankerson and 4-of-4 by Beane.
Meikkel Murray scored a game-high 30 points to lead Central Michigan, PJ Mitchell added 14 and Caleb Huffman scored 11 points for the Chippewas.
(Courtesy of NIU Athletics/MRO Edit)
MRO Staff
BUFFALO, NY -- The Buffalo Bulls continued their late season charge with an 81-67 victory over Kent State Friday at Alumni Arena.
It was UB's fifth straight win and eighth victory in nine outings. Jeenathan Williams hit 8-of-11 shots from the field while leading Buffalo (14-7, 12-5 MAC) with 21 points. Jayvon Graves delivered 17 points, while, Josh Mballa added 12 and David Nickleberry chipped in 10 points.
Tervell Beck paced Kent State (15-7, 12-6) with 19 points, followed by Malique Jacobs (16) and Giovanni Santiago (13).
Williams' trey at 8:56 of the first half pushed Buffalo's advantage to double digits at 25-15. The Flashes could not get closer than six during the period, and UB owned a 33-24 lead at intermission.
The Bulls were up six at 58-52 with 7:50 left when Nickleberry's layup kicked off a 12-0 Buffalo run. Kent State was unable to get any closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
UB hit 49.2 percent from the field overall, giving it six more field goals. The Bulls also had one more trey and one more field goal to go along with a 43-30 rebounding edge.
TOLEDO, OH -- Marreon Jackson triple's double powered Toledo to an 89-70 victory over Ball State Friday night at Savage Arena. With the victory, UT avenged an 81-67 Cardinals win over Toledo (20-7, 15-4 MAC) back on Feb. 6 in Muncie.
Jackson's big night included 22 points, 13 boards and 10 assists. Sedric Millner Jr. (19), Ryan Rollins (15) and Spencer Littleson also reached double figures for UT.
Like the hosts, Ball State also had four starters in double figures. Ishmael El Amin hit 9-of-17 shots on the way to 22 points. Jarron Coleman had 14 points, followed by K.J. Walton (13) and Brachen Hazen (12).
The Cardinals led early and the teams were tied at 17-all midway through the first period. After trading leads, Toledo went on an 8-2 run to end the stanza. That left the Rockets up 38-34.
Ball State managed to take a 53-51 lead at 11:25, but Jackson drained two straight treys to start a 36-16 as UT took control.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – Eastern Michigan held on in a nailbiter at Mid-American Conference opponent and in-state rival Western Michigan University, 64-63, Friday inside WMU's University Arena.
With a two-point lead and under 20 seconds on the clock, the Eastern Michigan (6-12, 3-11 MAC) defense needed one stop to finish off its in-state rival and secure victory in the only meeting between the two squads this season.
Although an Eastern defender was able to get a hand in the face of Western Michigan's (5-16, 4-12 MAC) Greg Lee, the disruption wasn't enough, as he nailed a 17-foot jumped to knot that game at 63-apiece with under 10 seconds to play.
Now with the ball, Eastern raced up the court for one final shot, which was taken by Noah Morgan from the left corner. His attempt deflected off the side of the backboard, but a foul was called, giving the senior three opportunities with 0.9 seconds remaining. Although he missed his final two attempts, his make on attempt No. 1 was enough to give EMU a 64-63 lead and give the Eagles a win on their rival's home court.
Senior Yeikson Montero led four Eagles in double figures with 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including three makes from downtown. Junior Bryce McBride was the second EMU play to reach 10-plus points with 14. Redshirt senior Ty Groce notched his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Noah added 11 points and grabbed four rebounds.
Eastern Michigan ended the evening shooting 43 percent from the field (25-of-58), compared to Western's 48 percent clip (25-of-52). The Eagles went 8-of-20 from beyond the arc (40 percent), which is the second-highest percentage this season. EMU held the advantage in blocks (3-2), steals (9-3), and turnovers (6-14), while the Broncos posted the edge in rebounds (39-28), and assists (14-8).
Josiah Freeman connected on 6-of-9 overall and 5-of-7 triples to lead WMU with 17 points. Greg Lee registered a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. Titus Wright added 12 points to the Bronco cause.
Western Michigan hit 48.1 percent from the floor overall and 36.8 percent outside the arc.