BUFFALO 80, BALL STATE 74
TOLEDO 100, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 72
OHIO 74, EASTERN MICHIGAN 56
WESTERN MICHIGAN 77, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 63
By MIKE SMITH/MRO
OXFORD, OH -- Re-armed with some key weapons, the Miami RedHawks posted a 94-78 victory over visiting Bowling Green Saturday at Millett Hall.
It was the second straight win for Miami (11-13, 5-8 MAC) and first game back in a while for Delonte Brown and James Beck. The senior forwards had recently missed time due to injury, hampering the RedHawks -- especially on the boards -- during a five-game losing streak. Although they saw limited action Saturday, Bfown and Beck combined for 18 points and seven caroms that helped the RedHawks own a 45-38 rebounding advantage.
The RedHawks reeled of 10 unanswered points to close the first stanza and led 47-32 at intermission. Brown drained two triples and Dae Dae Grant picked up his 1,000th careet point during the run.
Miami's offense continued to produce in the second half MU amassed led 84-32 with 7:44 remaining. Bowling Green pressure forced a flurry of RedHawk turnovers that helped the Falcons reduce their deficit to 16 points.
With the victory, Miami inched ahead of BG into eighth place -- one half game ahead of the Falcons -- in the MAC standings. Eight teams in the 12-team conference will advance to the MAC tourney this year. The two teams each own a win in head-to-head play.
Mekhi Lairy led Miami with a game-high 24 points. Grant finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Brown (14 points) and Precious Ayah (10 points, 12 rebounds) also reached double figures.
The RedHawks shot 50 percent from the field and made 34.4 percent of their treys. They were good on 15 of 17 at the line.
Bowling Green connected on 40.8 percent overall and 30.4 percent from long distance. The Falcons made 13 of 22 charity tosses. Myron Gordon paced BGSU with 20 points, followed by Trey Diggs (11 points, 11 rebounds) and Chandler Turner (10 points).
BUFFALO, NY – Buffalo erased an eight-point second half deficit as the Bulls won their third straight game with an 80-74 victory over Ball State on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Bulls to 13-8 and 7-4 in MAC play. BSU fell to 11-13, 6-7 MAC) with its second straight loss since upsetting Toledo Feb. 4.
It was a back and forth affair that saw 15 lead changes and 15 ties, with both teams getting a lead by as many as eight.
In the first half, neither team grabbed a big lead until late when the Bulls went on a 10-3 run to hold a seven-point advantage. Four different Bulls scored during the run as UB opened a 38-31 lead with 1:18 left. Ball State, however, the last five points of the first half and UB took a 38-36 lead into the break.
The Bulls led by one with 14:26 left in the second half when the Cardinals went on a 9-0 run, giving Ball State its largest lead of the game at 56-48 with 11:00 left. The Bulls trailed 58-51 when UB answered with a 10-0 run, picking up big threes from Jeenathan Williams and Maceo Jack, to pull ahead 61-58.
The visitors led 64-63 with 4:25 left, but a jumper from Williams ignited a 13-4 run, giving the Bulls their largest lead of the afternoon at 76-68 with 1:17 left. The Cardinals cut the Buffalo lead in half to four but couldn't get any closer.
Williams led all scorers with 24 points, while Josh Mballa finished with 13 points and eight rebounds, including six offensive boards. Mballa also finished with a game-high four blocks.
Ronaldo Segu added 13 points and six assists, while Jack finished with 10 points and two blocks. Sophomore David Skogman just missed out on the double-double with nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Buffalo forced Ball State into 19 turnovers, the highest by a Division I opponent this season. The Bulls also held the advantage on the glass again, outrebounding Ball State, 42-36.
DeKALB, Ill. – Junior RayJ Dennis tallied a career-high 22 points, a team-best eight rebounds and a career-high tying eight assists, while sophomore Ryan Rollins also scored 22 points to lead Toledo to a 100-72 triumph at Northern Illinois on Saturday afternoon. The 28-point victory keeps the Rockets (20-5, 12-2 MAC) in a first-place tie in the Mid-American Conference with Ohio (21-4, 12-2 MAC).
"We were able to get some separation in the first half and that was a big key for us," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "When we get some stops and score in transition we can be really good. We just need to remain humble, hungry and healthy and keep getting better."
Toledo's victory over the Huskies also gave the Rockets their fourth 20-win season in the last five years.
Junior forwards JT Shumate and Setric Millner Jr. also enjoyed strong outings for the Rockets and finished with 20 and 17 points, respectively. The duo also grabbed seven boards to help the Rockets dominate the boards by a 44-20 margin.
Dennis was extremely efficient, shooting 7-of-12 from the field, a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe, and committing zero turnovers in 33 minutes.
Toledo shot a scorching 64.5 percent in the opening 20 minutes and finished with a 56.3 shooting mark. The Rockets also hit 6-of-14 three-point attempts and were 22-of-26 from the free-throw line.
FIRST HALF
• JT Shumate buried three triples early to give the Rockets a 14-10 lead less than five minutes into the game.
• Toledo gained control when it went on a 15-0 run to take a 34-20 lead with 7:16 left in the first half.
Ryan Rollins contributed six points in the game-deciding spurt with Shumate, RayJ Dennis, Setric Millner Jr. and Ra'Heim Moss also scoring.
• The Huskies rallied within eight later in the half but four straight points from Dennis and Shumate's two free throws put Toledo back in front, 46-32, less than two minutes before halftime.
• A Dennis triple and a Moss layup in the final 30 seconds gave the Rockets a 53-35 halftime advantage.
SECOND HALF
• The Huskies cut Toledo's lead to 14 three minutes into the second half but Rollins' three-point play ignited a 9-0 spurt to put the Rockets up 64-41 with 15:03 to play.
• The Rockets' lead didn't dip below 18 points the rest of the way. Mihai Carcoana's two free throws gave Toledo its largest cushion, 98-67, with 2:04 remaining.
YPSILANTI, Mich. – Led by the first career double double from junior guard Miles Brown and 27 points from sophomore guard Mark Sears, the Ohio Bobcats (21-4, 12-2 MAC) wrapped up their three-game road trip with a 74-56 victory at Eastern Michigan (8-16, 3-10 MAC) Saturday afternoon (Feb. 12). The win clinched the Bobcats a spot in Cleveland for the 2022 MAC Tournament.
Leading Ohio was Sears with 27 points, going 9-of-18 from the field, 2-of-5 from the and 7-of-7 from the line. He also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists. Brown finished the day with 15 points and 12 rebounds for his first career double double. Junior forward Ben Roderick finished with nine points, while redshirt senior forward Ben Vander Plas added seven points and five boards.
"I have to give the credit to my teammates, especially the bigs," Brown said. "They did a great job boxing out and I was able to execute and get the rebound. ... We started off kind of slow in the first half. So the momentum in the second half kicked in and we were just able to have fun."
Overall, Ohio shot 42.6 percent from the field, 32.1 percent from three and were 13-of-19 from the line, while EMU shot 38.9 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from three and were 8-of-16 from the line. Ohio outrebounded EMU, 39-38, while Ohio dished out 10 assists to their six. The Bobcats also forced 15 EMU turnovers and scored 17 points off them.
For EMU, Darion Spottsville led the Eagles with 12 points, followed by Luka Savicevic with 11 points and Bryce McBride with 10.
A three and a jumper from EMU put the Eagles up 10-9 with 10:18 left in the half. Out of a timeout, the Eagles went up 12-9 before a three from Brown tied the game at 12-12. After that, EMU went on an 11-2 run to take a 23-14 lead, forcing an Ohio timeout with 6:42 left in the first half.
EMU continued their run, taking a 29-14 lead before a made three and two free throws from Brown stopped the run and cutting the Ohio deficit to 10 with four minutes left in the half. Out of the timeout a three from Sears cut the EMU lead to seven. After the Eagles countered with two layups, three free throws from the Bobcats cut the EMU lead to 33-25 going into halftime.
At the half, Ohio shot 32 percent from the field, 23.1 percent from three and were 6-of-12 from the free throw line, while EMU shot 46.2 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from three and were 4-of-6 from the line. EMU outrebounded the Bobcats, 22-14, and dished out five assists to Ohio's four.
The Bobcats eventually caught fire, with two layups from Vander Plas tying the game at 37-37 before a three from senior guard Tommy Schmock gave the Bobcats a 40-37 lead, forcing EMU to burn a timeout with 13:30 remaining in the game. Out of the timeout, Sears drained another three to give Ohio a 43-37 lead going into the under-12 media timeout.
Later, six-straight points from Sears increased Ohio's lead to 59-45 with 5:06 remaining. After The Bobcats were assessed a technical, EMU cut the Ohio lead to 59-47 before another three from Brown increased Ohio's lead to 62-47 going into the final media timeout.
Two threes and two free throws helped the Bobcats go up 72-54 with 1:16 to go in the game. The Bobcats then rode out the final minute of the game, sealing the 74-56 victory.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan scored the first seven points of the evening and never looked back, as it earned a wire-to-wire 77-63 victory over rival Central Michigan on Saturday night at University Arena.
For the second consecutive game, four different Broncos scored in double-figures, led by Lamar Norman Jr.'s game-high 25 points. The 25-point outburst extended Norman's double-digit scoring streak to 22 games in a row.
Gus Etchison added a career-high 14 points for WMU (5-20, 1-13), hitting three-of-five from the field and setting career-bests in both free throws made (6) and attempts (7). The freshman also handed out a career-high five assists.
Mileek McMillan tallied 12 points for WMU, his fourth consecutive game in double-figures, while Markeese Hastings posted 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds. McMillan (3) and Hastings (2) combined for five of WMU's season-high eight blocks.
Kevin Miller led CMU with 24 points. Brian Taylor (12) and Ralph Bissainthe (11) also reached double figures for the Chippewas.
The Broncos jumped on the Chippewas (6-16, 5-6) early, netting the first seven points of the evening in the contest's first two-and-a-half minutes. CMU worked it down to a 12-9 WMU edge, but the hosts ripped off another seven straight points, five by McMillan, to push the margin to 19-9 at the 11:29 mark.
Central Michigan shrunk the gap to 21-14 near the midway point of the opening stanza, but a 10-3 spurt increased Western Michigan's advantage back into double-digits (31-17), where it remained for the rest of the contest. Leading 33-22, the Broncos ripped off a 14-2 surge to end the first half, and took a 47-24 lead into the locker room. WMU shot 18-of-33 (54.5 percent) in the opening 20 minutes on the way to its season-high 47 first-half points.
Western Michigan remained in firm control in the early stages of the second half, and stretched the lead out to 25, 60-35, on an old-fashioned three-point play by Danny Kolp at the 12:37 mark. Runs of 8-2 and 9-0 helped the Chippewas draw within 12, 66-54, with four minutes to play.
Ahead 69-57 as the clocked ticked under three minutes to go, Norman and Etchison nailed a three-pointer apiece to push the margin back out to 75-57, and seal WMU's third win in the last four meetings with CMU.
The Broncos connected on 24-of-55 (43.6 percent) from the floor for the evening, and made 13-of-27 (48.1 percent) from downtown. Western Michigan also converted 16-of-19 (84.2 percent) from the charity stripe. Defensively, WMU limited Central Michigan to 38.5 percent (25-of-65) from the floor and 30.8 percent (8-of-26) from three-point range. The Broncos held a 38-34 advantage in rebounding for the evening.