BOWLING GREEN 87, MIAMI 83 (OT)
TOLEDO 94, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 63
BALL STATE 78, EASTERN MICHIGAN 72
MRO STAFF
BOWLING GREEN, OH -- Daequon Plowden and Joe Reece both posted double-doubles to lead Bowling Green past Miami 87-83 in overtime Saturday at the Stroh Center. It was the first Mid-American Conference win of the season for BGSU (8-6, 1-2 MAC), which has now won five straight at home.
Miami, playing for the first time since a Dec. 29 MAC-opening victory at Buffalo, shook off any rust to build up a 35-26 halftime advantage. The RedHawks (7-6, 1-1) stayed in front until Joe Reece hit a layup at 8:30 to give the Falcons a 58-57 edge.
Miami led just once more after that, briefly holding a 64-63 edge following two Delonte Brown free throws at 5:29. Those tosses marked the first free throws shot by MU on the day. Miami finished 6 of 9 from the line, while hosting Bowling Green made 18 of 23. BGSU began shooting double bonus tosses midway through the second stanza.
The game was tied at 77-all with just under a minute left. Miami called a timeout to set up a play, but it failed to get off a shot and turned the ball over. Bowling Green called its own timeout with nine ticks left. However, a tough turnaround shot by Plowden from the corner failed to fall and the teams went to overtime.
The Falcons worked the boards hard after intermission and grabbed several offensive rebounds to start overtime. Reece's tip-in at 4:08 put the hosts in front and Gordon followed with two free throws. Miami closed with two three times after that but could get no closer.
Plowden paved the way for BGSU, hitting 10 of 20 shots overall and 4 of 6 triples while totaling 27 points to go with 10 boards. Reece, meanwhile, made 8 of 15 shots from the field and 4 of 6 at the line. He finished with 20 points and 10 caroms. Chandler Turner (11 points) was the only other Falcon in double figures.
Dae Dae Grant led Miami with 26 points. He was good on 10 of 22 overall and 6 of 13 from beyond the arc. Brown netted 24 points, hitting 8 of 24 overall and 5 of 16 threes. Precious Ayeh tallied 12 points, adding nine rebounds and two blocks to the cause. He was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field and 2 of 2 at the line.
Both teams registered 31 made field goals. While Miami owned more 3-point goals (15-7), the RedHawks launched 44 long distance tries to only 19 by BGSU. Twelve-more made free throws by Bowling Green proved key.
TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo led wire-to-wire and continued its home-court dominance on Saturday afternoon with a 94-63 Mid-American Conference victory over Northern Illinois (3-8, 0-1 MAC). The Rockets (11-4, 3-1 MAC) are now 6-0 in Savage Arena this season and have won 22 of their last 23 home contests.
Juniors Setric Millner Jr. and RayJ Dennis each tallied 16 points to lead a balanced attack that saw six Rockets score in double figures. Also scoring in double digits were sophomore Ryan Rollins (15 pts.), redshirt freshman Ra'Heim Moss (12 pts.), junior JT Shumate (11 pts.) and freshman Mihai Carcoana (season-high 11 pts.).
Toledo dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Huskies by a 43-31 margin. Rollins led the way with seven rebounds, with Millner contributing six boards along with a team-high four assists.
The Rockets' defense also continued to excel by limiting the Huskies to a 37.1 shooting mark. The last time a Toledo opponent shot over 38 percent from the field was Bradley on Dec. 7.
Toledo shot 55.0 percent from the field, 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from three-point range and 77.8 percent (21-of-27) from the charity stripe. The Rockets have now made 20 or more free throws in three straight games.
Junior Kaleb Thornton led Northern Illinois with 12 points, while junior Edward Manuel contributed 11 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST HALF
• Back-to-back buckets from RayJ Dennis capped a 6-0 spurt to put the Rockets in front 14-5 just over five minutes into the contest.
• Dennis' floater then finished off an 8-0 Rocket burst for a 24-9 cushion midway through the opening stanza.
• Setric Millner Jr. tallied four points to ignite a 9-0 spurt that increased Toledo's lead to 42-17 3:11 before halftime.
• The Rockets took a 47-28 lead to the locker room after shooting 60.7 percent in the first half.
SECOND HALF
• Toledo never let NIU put together a rally in the second half with the Huskies unable to come closer than 17 points in the final 20 minutes.
• Mihai Carcoana's putback gave Toledo a 61-34 lead with 13:15 remaining.
• NIU scored six straight points to reduce its deficit to 66-45 with 8:47 to play, but the Rockets ended up pushing their lead to 31 points, 89-58, on Kooper Jacobi's three-point play with 1:31 left.
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Luke Bumbalough led Ball State with a game-high 20 points as BSU defeated Eastern Michigan 78-72 Saturday at the Convocation Center. . The Cardinals improved to 7-7 overall and 2-1 in the Mid-American Conference, while Eastern Michigan fell to 6-7 overall and 1-1 in conference play. It was EMU's first loss in the MAC, as well as the first home loss of the season.
Bumbalough production marked his third game of at least 20 points this season. Tyler Cochran finished with 17 points, including a perfect 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. Miryne Thomas and Demarius Jacobs each chipped in with 10 points.
EMU jumped out to an early 6-2 lead in the first two minutes of play. The Cardinals were resilient and responded with a run of their own to tie the game at 12-12, with 14:06 left in the first half. Ball State added an 11-5 run to take a 26-22 lead with 7:22 left in the half. BSU utilized a 13-8 run as the half ended and took a 39-34 lead into the half.
The Eagles started the second half with a 15-5 run and owned a 49-44 lead with 15:47 left in the second half. The Cardinals were unfazed and responded with a 16-3 run to take a 60-52 lead with 10:06 left.
Eastern Michigan managed to tie the game at 60-60 with 6:41 remaining on the clock. Solid defense and clutch free throws down the stretch secured the 78-72 victory for Ball State. During the final six minutes of play, BSU made 11 free throws and held EMU to four field goals.
The Cardinals and the Eagles were even on rebounding with 37 each. Steals were tied at seven apiece. Ball State produced more assists, 15-12, and BSU outscored EMU 26-16 on points off turnovers.
Colin Golson led the Eagles with 16 points. Noah Farrakhan and Darion Spottsville added double-digit performances with 13 and 12, respectively. Nate Scott brought down a game-high nine rebounds. Farrakhan recorded a game-high four steals.