GEORGE MASON 80, TOLEDO 73
DUQUESNE 78, BALL STATE 77
BUFFALO 83, ST. BONAVENTURE 66
CENTRAL MICHIGAN 89, ALMA COLLEGE 50
MARSHALL 83, OHIO 69
BOWLING GREEN 86, MORGAN STATE 76
FAIRFAX, Va. – A 6-0 spurt by George Mason in the closing minutes proved costly for the Toledo men's basketball team in its 80-73 defeat to the Patriots (5-4) on Saturday afternoon in EagleBank Arena.
Senior JT Shumate tied the score at 65-65 with 2:52 remaining, but GMU scored six straight points to take a 71-65 advantage with 1:22 left. The Rockets were able to close within three points on two occasions, however, the Patriots made six straight free throws in the final 28 seconds to secure the victory.
"I hate losing, but it was a great college basketball game with two teams playing hard and playing the right way in a physical game," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We didn't make enough plays down the stretch to come away with the win. We wanted to be battle-tested for conference play and this game will do that. George Mason is a big, athletic team, and we battled hard against them."
Shumate and Setric Millner Jr. led the Rockets offensively with 20 and 16 points, respectively. Junior RayJ Dennis joined them in double figures with 10 points to go along with eight rebounds and five assists.
Millner joined Dennis as the team's leading rebounder, but George Mason managed a slight 37-36 advantage on the glass.
Sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. led the Rockets with four steals to help UT force 15 GMU turnovers.
DeVon Cooper paced the Patriots with 19 points, hitting 8-of-12 shots from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range.
The Patriots shot 50.9 percent from the field and 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from three-point range. Toledo was limited to a 40.9 shooting mark, including a season-low 4-of-16 (25.0 percent) from behind the arc.
By MIKE SMITH
OXFORD, OH -- Coaches often talk about their team finding an identity. It's especially true of younger teams, teams coming out of a significant roster turnover and/or teams playing under a new coach early in the season.
There's some of all that going on at Miami, where new Head Coach Travis Steele is working on molding the 2022-23 RedHawks.
It's days like Saturday, however, that make it clear Miami's "identity" is not yet what Steele envisions. The RedHawks fell to Indiana State 88-61 Saturday at Millett Hall. Most of the damage . . . CONTINUE
PITTSBURGH – Ball State men's was back on the court for a road test against Duquesne on Saturday from the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Jaylin Sellers produced a career high in points, but the Cardinals fell on a buzzer beating 3-pointer, 78-77.
Ball State finished with five players in double figures for the third time this season. Sellers posted a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He brought down three rebounds and added one steal. Sellers played stout defense against Dae Dae Grant, who finished with just 11 points, despite averaging 20.1 points per game. Demarius Jacobs notched 12 points with three rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Jarron Coleman added 11 points with a game-high five assists to go along with his five rebounds and one steal. Jalen Windham produced 11 points with a game-high two steals and one assist. Payton Sparks collected his third double-double of the season behind 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Sparks added four assists.
Ball State came out of the gates fast and jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the game's first 3:10 of play. During the run, Windham accounted for five of the team's seven points. After the Dukes scored their first points of the game on a 3-pointer, the Cardinals went on an 11-1 run. During that stretch, Sellers recorded five of the team's points, while Coleman added four. Ball State held its largest lead of the game with an 18-4 lead with 12:18 left in the half.
The Dukes went on a 14-6 run that took the game clock to 7:05 and cut the Cardinal lead to 24-18. Ball State answered with an 11-6 run and extended its lead to 35-24 with 4:07 left in the half. Duquesne ended the half on a 12-5 run, but Ball State took a 40-36 lead into the half.
The second half started as a back-and-forth battle. The Cardinals outscored the Dukes 11-8 in the first four minutes of play and held a 51-44 lead. Duquesne answered with an 11-0 run and took its first lead of the game, 55-51, with 12:21 left on the clock. The Cardinals regrouped and responded with a 5-0 run that gave BSU a 56-55 lead with just over 11 minutes on the clock. The team traded the lead five more times before the Dukes were able to take a 63-60 lead with just under eight minutes left.
The Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to one, 66-65, with 5:50 left in regulation. With the score 68-65, in favor of Duquesne, the Cardinals went on an 8-5 run to tie the game at 73-73 with 58 seconds left in the game. Sparks gave the Cardinals a 74-73 lead with a made free throw. After two free throws by Grant, Sellers made a driving layup and drew the foul. Sellers converted the and-1 opportunity and gave Ball State a 77-75 lead with 12 seconds on the clock. Jimmy Clark threw up a 3-pointer that beat the buzzer to give Duquesne a 78-77 victory.
Clark led the Dukes with 16 points and tied for a team-best six rebounds. He added a team-high four assists and one steal. Tevin Brewer finished with 14 points and one assist. Grant rounded out the double-digit scoring for Duquesne with 11 points, four rebounds, and added one steal.
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Buffalo Bulls (4-4, 0-0 MAC) defeated Big 4 rival St. Bonaventure (5-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10) in dominant fashion Saturday, extending a UB's current win streak to three games with an 83-66 victory.
The Bulls practically led wire to wire as they had the lead for 39:19. St. Bonaventure held the lead for a total of 18-seconds holding a 21-20 lead at the 7:43 mark in the first half.
Buffalo got out to a 17-7 lead, but the Bonnies went on a 14-3 run to get their lone lead of the game, 21-20. The Bulls quickly flipped the script as Curtis Jones then knocked down a three to retake the lead. It was the closest the game would get with Buffalo scoring on their next six possessions. Buffalo led 37-31 at the half shooting 50.0% from the field (14-of-28) and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
The Bonnies would have several runs in the second half to cut into the Bulls' lead, but Buffalo continued to respond. St. Bonaventure cut Buffalo's lead to three but could never take the lead. One key difference was how the Bonnies struggled from the charity stripe. They could not cash in as they missed 10 free throws, finishing 9-of-19 (.474) on the day.
In the win, sophomore guard Curtis Jones finished with a career-high 32 points with Zid Powell adding 23 points. Powell was perfect on his 12 free throw attempts. Buffalo finished 18-for-21 (.857) from the charity stripe. Jones finished 13-of-22 (.590) from the floor while drilling 5-of-10 from beyond the arc. Jones had five of the Bull's seven three-pointers on the day.
Jonnivius Smith had several monstrous dunks. Smith tied his career-high 10 points adding six rebounds in the victory. Isaiah Adams nearly had a double-double, finishing with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Buffalo has now had at least one 20-point scorer in the last five games with C. Jones finishing with 20 or more in four straight.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.--Sophomore Nicolas Pavrette set a school-record and tied a Mid-American Conference record for highest field goal percentage in a game (1.000) with a perfect 12-12 shooting performance en route to a career-high 25 points in leading Central Michigan to an 89-50 win over Alma Saturday evening at McGuirk Arena. The win improved Central Michigan to 4-4 on the season, while Alma dropped to 3-4 overall.
Pavrette surpassed his previous career-high of nine points with his 25-point performance. His perfect 12-12 (1.000) shooting performance ties the MAC record set by Kent State's John Whorton vs. Akron Feb. 28, 1998. The NCAA record is a 15-15 performance by Louisville's Clifford Rozier vs. Eastern Kentucky on Dec. 11, 1993. The 6-foot-11 center also finished the game with five dunks and the only shot he missed was a free throw.
Senior Brian Taylor notched his fifth consecutive double figure scoring game with 15 points and seven rebounds, while freshman Reggie Bass added 13 points with six rebounds and a career-high tying six assists. In his second career game, senior Marc Garland III came off the bench to score a career-high 11 points with five rebounds and freshman Ola Ajiboye grabbed a game and career-high 11 rebounds, scored six points and dished out four assists.
From the opening tipoff, Central Michigan led the entire 40 minutes. CMU held Alma to 26.2 percent shooting (17-65) and outrebounded the Scots 57-30.
Despite missing several players, Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee was pleased with his transition game.
"Our goal in transition is to create offense off of our defense and I thought we did that tonight." Barbee said. "We held Alma to a low shooting percentage. They are a pressing team. We knew that they were going to press. Anytime a team presses you, if you handle it properly in the backcourt, you are able to attack it properly in the frontcourt. For the most part, we did a good job, even though we had 19 turnovers."
The Chippewas took the lead off the opening tipoff and began the game on a 10-0 run. Layups by Pavrette and Ajiboye, a dunk by Taylor, two Bass free throws, and a Miroslav Stafl layup gave the host Chippewas a commanding 10-0 lead.
Two consecutive field goals by Carrington McCaskill gave CMU an 18-5 lead with 13:45 to go in the first half. A coast-to-coast steal and layup by Bass put CMU up 24-8 with 10:07 to play in the first half.
Using full-court pressure, Alma outscored CMU 10-2 over a two-minute span before the half to cut CMU's lead down to 10 points at 35-25 with two minutes to play in the first half but a Pavrette dunk off a fast break ended the rally.
The Chippewas held a 39-25 halftime lead after the two teams combined for 24 turnovers and 21 personal fouls.
Central Michigan opened the second half on a 12-3 run to lead 51-28 with 16 minutes to play. Pavrette scored on a jumper and dunk, Bass converted a layup, Taylor hit a stepback jumper and Drummond stole the ball in the backcourt and drove in for a layup. Pavrette scored his 10th point of the evening on a alley-oop dunk off a pass from Taylor.
HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – The Ohio Bobcats (4-4) returned to action on Saturday evening, falling to Marshall (7-1), 83-69, inside the Cam Henderson Center.
Overall, Ohio shot 43 percent from the field, 29 percent from three and were 4-of-6 from the line, while Marshall shot 46 percent from the field, 30 percent from three and were 5-of-11 from the line. Marshall outrebounded the Bobcats, 44-40, while the Herd dished out 19 assists to Ohio's 11 and recorded five blocks and nine steals, while Ohio recorded four steals on one block.
Individually, Ohio was led by graduate student forward Dwight Wilson III with 16 points and six rebounds, while junior center Gabe Wiznitzer scored a career-high 15 points and grabbed three boards. Freshman guard AJ Brown added 11 points and three-made threes, while sophomore forward AJ Clayton added eight points and six boards. Senior guard Miles Brown added five rebounds and three assists.
Ohio won the tip, but Marshall got on the board first, taking an early 4-0 lead. Wilson III got Ohio on the board with a layup, however Marshall took a 6-2 lead into the first media timeout. Out of the timeout, a three from AJ Brown cut the Marshall lead to one before seven-straight points from Marshall increased their lead to eight with 12:11 remaining in the half. Despite layups from Clayton and Wilson III, Marshal increased their run to 19-4 to take a 25-9 lead going into the under-eight media timeout. Over the final seven minutes, the Ohio offense started to come together, however Marshall continued to capitalize on chances, taking a 43-22 lead into the half.
The second half started with both teams generating several baskets, however, the Bobcats were unable to cut into the Marshall lead, with The Herd taking a 57-32 lead into the second media timeout. Out of the under-12 media timeout, the Bobcats were able to cut the Marshall lead to 63-43. However, The Herd maintained a double-digit lead through the final horn.
For Marshall, Andrew Taylor had 19 points, while Taevion Kinsey added 18 points and nine rebounds. Obinna Anochili-Killen scored 16 points and had six rebounds.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State Falcons overcame a 14-point second half deficit on Saturday to best Morgan State 86-76.
The Falcons were sparked by a 9-0 run early in the second half before tying it up at 51-51. A late 7-0 run for Bowling Green sealed the deal to move ahead 81-70 to capture the 86-76 final. The win moves the Falcons to 3-5 on the season while being 2-2 at home.
Leon Ayers III led the scoring for the Falcons with his third 20-point game of the season, tallying 22. Samari Curtis added 18 points, including four key free throws during the late 7-0 run, to the Bowling Green effort. Rashaun Agee narrowly missed a double-double with 17 points and a career-high nine rebounds. The double-digit scoring rounded out with Chandler Turner netting 13 for the Falcons in addition to six rebounds.
"We were looking for something to energize us.," BGSU head coach Michael Huger said. "I thought we came out flat. To start the second half we went to our press and a couple different presses that we threw at them and were able to speed them up and get a couple turnovers. We got a couple buckets out of the turnovers and made it a game, cut it to about six. Now it's a game. Now guys have to be able to play and react. We put a little more pressure on them and those guys not being comfortable and just playing that way. I thought we did a good job of amping up the pressure and making it a real run-and-shoot game."