Buffalo 102, Northern Illinois 74
Bowling Green 69, Eastern Michigan 69
Miami 96, Central Michigan 54
ATHENS, Ohio -- After a three-week hiatus, four Bobcats scored in double-digits to power Ohio (12-6, 8-4 MAC) to a 90-73 victory over Akron (14-5, 12-4 MAC) on Tuesday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
Ohio didn't miss a beat in its return to action for the first time since February 2. The victory extended a season-high win streak to five games.
Ohio scored 40 of their 90 points in the paint and held Akron to 38.8 percent from the field, including just 25 percent (8-of-32) from three-point range. The Bobcats also forced 12 turnovers.
"I give our guys a lot of credit for playing with a lot of confidence," said Ohio head coach Jeff Boals. "Rebounding in the second half was really big."
Sophomore forward Ben Roderick was one of four Bobcats to score in double-digits, scoring 17 points, with 13 coming from the first half. Redshirt junior forward Ben Vander Plas also added 17 points, nine rebounds and a pair of steals. Freshman guard Mark Sears put up 12 points, dished out nine assists and grabbed seven boards, while sophomore guard Lunden McDay) added 10 points and four rebounds. Off the bench, sophomore guard Miles Brown scored 12 points.
Loren Cristian Jackson was the only Zip to reach double figures. He scored 22 points and had a team-high seven rebounds.
Ohio grabbed an early lead and led 23-9 midway through the first period. However, Akron chipped away and pulled within one following a Dawson trey at 3:41.
After Ohio carried a 41-32 lead to the locker room, the Bobcats extended their advantage after play resumed. By the 8:39 mark, OU held a commanding 72-50 lead. Akron failed to get closer than 13 points after that.
DEKALB, IL – Buffalo put up a season high in points as the Bulls led wire-to-wire in a 102-74 win at the NIU Convocation Center. The victory improved the Bulls to 10-7 on the season and 8-5 in league play. Northern Illinois dropped its fifth straight and fell to 2-14 (1-6 MAC).
Josh Mballa paced UB with a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds. He hit 8-of-11 shots from the field and all five charity toss opportunities. Jeenathan Williams tallied 18 points, while LaQuill Hardnett knocked down all five of his shots from the field and five-of-6 free throws on the way to 18 points. Jayvon Gaves rounded out the double-figure contingent with 13 points.
Northern Illinois' Tyler Cochran led all scorers with 26 points, followed by Trendon Hankerson (13) and Kaleb Thornton (10).
The Bulls raced out to an 18-7 lead just four and a half minutes in on a three-point jumper from senior Jayvon Graves. Redshirt freshman David Skogman threw down a thunderous dunk and then David Nickelberry followed that up with another slam following a stealas UB went up 31-12. The visitors biggest first half lead was 23 points and UB, which shot 54.1 percent from the floor in the first stanza, took a 50-28 lead to intermission.
Buffalo took its largest lead of the half on a layup from junior Ronaldo Segu at 47-23 and UB went on to take a 51-28 lead into the break. UB shot 54.1% from the floor over the first 20 minutes, including 9-of-11 from the free throw line.
The Huskies would cut the Buffalo lead to 18 and NIU was within 19 with 14:11 left when the Bulls scored six straight points as a layup from Nickelberry put the Bulls back ahead, 73-48. UB took its largest lead of the game when it hit the century mark. A three pointer from sophomore Lucas Saleh and a bucket from fellow sophomore Savion Gallion put UB ahead, 100-69, and the Bulls finished with the 102-74 win.
The Bulls held a huge advantage on the glass, 55-25. UB had 20 offensive boards, which it turned into 22 points.
YPSILANTI, MI -- Kaden Metheny hit 8-of-14 3-point tries and scored 29 points to lead Bowling Green past Eastern Michigan Tuesday.
Justin Turner, Daeqwon Plowdon and Caleb Fields contributed 13 apiece,and Trey Diggs added 10 for the Falcons. It was the third straight win for BGSU, which is trying to bounce back into form after a mid-season six game slump.The Falcons are now 13-9, 9-7 MAC.
With Tuesday’s loss, Eastern Michigan falls to 4-10, 1-9 MAC. The Eagles, who didn’t play for two weeks due to Covid issues, have lost six straight, with their only conference win coming back on Jan. 9.
Ty Groce led EMU against Bowling Green, hitting 10-of-21 from the field while scoring 23 points. Joining him in double figures were Bryce McBride (15), Noah Morgan (14) and Yeikson Montero
It was a tale of two halves as the Eagles came out hot to open the game. After falling behind 5-2 early in the first half, the Eagles embarked on a 27-7 run and held a 17-point lead (29-12) with 6:41 remaining in the first half.
From that moment on, it was all Falcons, as they closed the first half on a 16-2 run to pull to within three at the half, 31-28. That run continued into the second half, with Bowling Green eventually grabbing hold of its first lead, 34-33, since the 3-2 advantage it held at the 16:53 mark of the first half.
The Falcons outscored the Eagles 54-38 in the second half, thanks in large part to knocking down nine shots from deep. BGSU finished the game with 15 3-point makes.
EMU, meanwhile, knocked down five threes at a 38.5 percent clip. The Eagles would hang around late in the second half, and a Groce flush off an alley-oop from Montero would cut the lead to single digits and kick-start a 6-1 run to close the distance to seven (72-65), but Bowling Green was able to close strong at the free throw line to clinch the 82-69 victory.
By MIKE SMITH
MOUNT PLEASANT, MI - The Miami RedHawks connected on a program record 18 3-pointers and controlled the boards as they dominated a depleated Central Michigan squad 95-54 Tuesday at McGuirk Arena.
Registering its first back-to-back wins since Jan. 21 and 23, MU evened its MAC record at 7-7. Central Michigan, meanwhile, dropped its sixth straight. The Chippewas (6-13, 2-10 MAC) had not played since Feb. 6 due to Covid issues, and had just nine players for the Miami matchup. One of those players was a walk-on loan from the baseball team.
Sixteen Miami players saw action and eleven Miami reached the scoring column. Dae Dae Grant led the way, hitting 9-of-14 from the field and 7-of-12 trey attempts while scoring 25 points. Neither Grant nor any other MU starter shot a free throw. In fact, the RedHawks were two-of-five from the line on the night.
Javin Etzler scored 13 points, while Delonte Brown (12) and Mekhi Lairy (10) also reached double figures.
Meikkel Murray paced CMU with 16, followed by Ralph Bissainthe with 14 and Caleb Huffman's 13.
With the Chippewas shooting just 22.2 percent overall and 13.3 percent outside the arc in the first half, Miami took an early lead. It was still a five-point game (17-12) after Beachler's triple at 13:17. Central Michigan, however, would score just six more points before intermission.
Miami, meanwhile, hit 61.1 percent from the field and 63.1 percent on treys in the opening stanza. It also earned a 10-0 advantage in second chance points, helping the RedHawks enjoy a 58-18 halftime advantage.
Central Michigan doubled its offensive output, scoing 36 second half points, but Miami cruised in to victory.
"A lot of people are out of shape, we really haven't had a lot of reps, haven't been able to play five-on-five for a while and we understand that," CMU junior guard Matt Beachler said. "Ultimately other teams have done it too and we've got to come together and play some viable basketball here. I think we're very fortunate to be able to play college basketball and I think we're very fortunate that this season went on."