No. 1 GONZAGA 107, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 54
ARKANSAS LITTLE ROCK 67, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 60
TOLEDO 98, CHARLOTTE 86
KENT STATE 74, JAMES MADISON 69
FORDHAM 63, AKRON 43
OHIO 73, MOUNT ST. MARY'S 59
IOWA 109, WESTERN MICHIGAN 61
LAS VEGAS – The No. 1 team in the nation lived up to its billing on Monday as Gonzaga handed Central Michigan a 107-54 loss in the Chippewas' opening game at the Good Sam Empire Classic at T-Mobile Arena.
CMU played catchup from the get-go against Gonzaga (5-0), last year's national runner-up. Though down double digits less than four minutes into the game, CMU stayed in the hunt until a 17-0 Gonzaga run left the Chippewas in a 42-17 hole with six minutes to play in the first half. They never got closer than 22 points the rest of the way.
Harrison Henderson scored 11 points to lead CMU and Kevin Miller added nine. Chet Holmgren, a 7-foot freshman and the consensus No. 1 high school player in the nation a year ago, scored 19 points to lead the Bulldogs.
Monday's game, and Tuesday's with Bellarmine, are the latest dates in an ambitious nonconference schedule that first-year coach Tony Barbee has laid out for his Chippewas.
CMU (1-3) will play Bellarmine in its second and final game of the classic on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET). The Knights (0-5) fell to No. 2 UCLA, 75-62, on Monday.CMU is set to play at No. 10 Kentucky and at No. 25 Xavier next week.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Trailing by 25 points with 8:45 to play, the Northern Illinois Huskies staged a furious comeback that included a 17-0 run, before running out of time and falling to the Little Rock Trojans, 67-60 in their final game at the Jacksonville Classic, presented by Fabletics.
The Huskies (1-4) trailed 54-29 with 9:36 on the clock when Trendon Hankerson scored his first basket of the game, a three-point shot, that was answered by Little Rock's Nikola Maric to extend the Trojans' lead back to 25 at 57-32.
From that point, the Huskies ran off 17 consecutive points and outscored UALR 36-17 in the final 12 minutes of the game. First, Hankerson fed Zool Kueth for the first of his four three-pointers. Montavious Myrick scored in the paint and Hankerson hit from three to cut the lead to 17. Freshman Zion Russell made a pair of free throws and Kaleb Thornton connected on a three off a Myrick steal as the lead was cut to 57-45.
Hankerson made a steal – one of a team-leading three in the game – and fed Kueth for a triple and NIU was within double digits for the first time since the 5:37 mark of the first half. A Hankerson free throw cut the lead to eight before the Trojans' DeAntoni Gordon made a pair of three throws with 2:08 to play to push the margin back to 10.
The Huskies, with a line-up that included Russell, Hankerson, Myrick, Thornton and Kueth, along with Darweshi Hunter and Edward Manuel at times, continued to pressure Little Rock. A third Kueth three trimmed the margin to seven again at 59-52 with 1:10 to play before the Trojans' D.J. Smith hit a pair of free throws.
Kueth's fourth and final three of the game - he finished the game 4-of-8 from long range – came after UALR hit two more free throws and cut the lead to six with 47 seconds to play. Four straight made free throws sandwiched around a Huskie turnover sealed the win for Little Rock at the 29 second mark, with Thornton scoring the last of his team-leading 15 points on a layup with 25 seconds left to trim the lead back to eight at 65-57.
NIU fouled twice more and nearly forced a pair of turnovers – one off an inbounds play and another on a five-second call in the final seconds, but UALR made two of four free throws to reach 67 points. Their last 10 points came at the line, where the Trojans' shot 18-of-25 for the game. NIU's Manuel made three free throws when he was fouled on a three with one second remaining for the final margin.
Thornton made 5-of-8 shots from the field, including 3-of-3 from three en route to his team-leading 15 points, and had four assists. Hankerson scored all 10 of his points in the final nine minutes and added three steals and three assists, while Kueth's 12 points were a season high. Kingsley Okanu led NIU on the boards with seven.
NIU shot 46.2 percent from the field in the second half, including 9-of-18 from three-point range after making just six field goals and scoring 18 points in the first half.
NASSAU, Bahamas – Junior Setric Millner Jr. poured in a career-high 27 points to lead Toledo to an exciting 98-86 victory over Charlotte on Monday afternoon in its opening game of this week's Baha Mar Nassau Championship. Sophomore Ryan Rollins contributed a season-high 22 points, while junior RayJ Dennis tallied a career-high 21 points and team-high nine rebounds.
"I thought today's game was played at an unbelievably high level," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "It was two very good teams playing well and making a lot of tough shots. I'm proud of how hard we played."
Toledo put the game away down the stretch with an 11-2 spurt after the 49ers had cut the Rockets' lead to 81-80 with 4:45 remaining. Shumate opened the game-deciding burst with two free throws, and Millner's driving layup increased the margin to five. After Charlotte hit two free throws, Shumate and Millner both hit two triples for a nine-point cushion.
Dennis' performance on the boards helped the Rockets enjoy a 35-25 advantage on the glass and a 14-6 edge in second-chance points. Junior JT Shumate also nearly registered a double-double with 17 points and eight rebounds.
Toledo was red-hot from the field throughout the high-scoring contest, finishing with a 58.9 FG%, a 46.7 three-point FG% (7-of-15) and an 80.6 FT% (25-of-31). Charlotte posted a 51.6 shooting mark, a 44.4 three-point FG% (12-of-27) and 62.5 FT% (10-of-16).
Toledo will meet Tulane in the tournament semifinals on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
NAPLES, Fla. – Kent State (2-1) moved on to the semifinals of the Naples Invitational with a 74-69 win over James Madison (4-1) on Monday afternoon.
Malique Jacobs led the way for the Flashes, posting a season-high 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and five assists. Sincere Carry scored 12 points, added a team-high eight rebounds and a team-high eight assists.
Justyn Hamilton shot the ball extremely well, going 8-for-12 from the field and scoring 16 points while grabbing seven boards.
The two teams battled back and forth all afternoon, using mini runs to jostle on the scoreboard. Kent State took a 34-26 lead into the halftime locker room. The Dukes fought back, eventually taking a 52-49 lead midway through the second half.
The Golden Flashes snatched the lead back and didn't let go down the stretch despite a late run from JMU. Sincere Carry drilled four clutch free throws in the final 24 seconds to seal the win for Kent State.
The Flashes out-rebounded JMU, 32-21, in the win. Kent State also shot an impressive 51 percent from the field, 44 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free throw line.
The Flashes will take on the Colonials of George Washington on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the tournament final.
Estero, Fla. – Akron struggled shooting from the floor as the Zips dropped the opening round game of the Gulf Coast Showcase to Fordham, 63-43, on Monday at Hertz Arena.
The Zips shot only 31.4 percent from the field (16-of-51), including just one made 3-point field goal (1-of-18). Sophomore Enrique Freeman led the Zips in scoring with nine points while pulling down a team-best 11 rebounds. Junior Xavier Castaneda followed with eight points and buried Akron's only triple with 2:44 remaining in the game, breaking an 0-of-17 streak for the game.
Akron opened the game with a 6-2 lead, but the Rams used runs of 9-3 and 8-2 to take a 19-11 lead by the 7:36 mark. Fordham outscored Akron 11-8 in the closing minutes of the first half for a 30-19 halftime lead.
Akron opened the second half with another 6-2 run, cutting the Rams lead to seven points, 32-25. The Rams eventually pushed the lead back to 20 points, 49-29, with 7:46 remaining in the game.
Antonio Daye, Jr. led Fordham with 19 points and Darius Quisenberry followed with 17 for the win. Fordham narrowly edged the Zips on the glass 37-31 as Antrell Charlton and Kyle Rose secured seven rebounds each.
Akron is scheduled to continue tournament play at the Gulf Coast Showcase on Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 1:30 p.m. against either Appalachian State or Delaware.
ATHENS, Ohio – With five Bobcats scoring in double figures, the Ohio Bobcats (4-1) rebounded from last Friday's defeat, downing Mount St. Mary's (2-4), 73-59, Monday night inside the Convocation Center.
Sophomore guard Mark Sears led Ohio with 15 points, going 6-of-18 from the field, while dishing out seven assists. Junior forward Ben Roderick added 12 points, as did 5th year forward Jason Carter, who also grabbed a team-leading seven boards and four steals. Junior guard Miles Brown added 11 points, while redshirt senior forward Ben Vander Plas (Ripon, Wis.) scored 10 points with six rebounds and three steals.
Overall, Ohio shot 46.8 percent from the field, 28.6 percent from three and 73.3 percent from the line, while The Mount shot 53.5 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from three and 70.0 percent from the line. Ohio outrebounded The Mount, 30-26, while the Bobcats registered 12 assists and forced 20 turnovers. The Bobcats also had 10 steals and 14 offensive rebounds.
"I thought you know our guys were very resilient tonight," head coach Jeff Boals said. "I thought they showed some grit, especially in that second half. Mount St. Mary's is a good team. Scouting them, we knew coming in, they were going to be very physical, which they were. And we knew that no matter how much they were down, they're going to continue to fight battle and come back. And they did it against Kentucky and they did against Robert Morris. They were down big. came back and won overtime. And we just kept telling the guys you can't relax. I thought in the second half our defense really picked up, made some adjustments at halftime that really helped our defense and half court pressure."
Ohio led 32-26 at intermission. Carter opened the second half with the first points of the half. After a layup from The Mount, a three from Vander Plas followed by a Carter layup pushed the Bobcats to an 11-point lead. After both teams traded baskets, Ohio capitalized on back-to-back Mount St. Mary's turnovers, with Roderick hitting both layups to give Ohio a 45-32 lead, forcing The Mount to call a timeout with 16:02 left in the game.
Over the next five minutes, the Bobcats stretched their lead to 14 before The Mount cut the Bobcats' lead in half with 12:16 left in the game. The Bobcats then took back over, hitting two free throws and a jumper from McDay to give Ohio the 56-45 lead with 11:11 left in the game. Ohio and The Mount traded baskets, with the Mountaineers cutting the Ohio lead to 12 multiple times. However, a layup and free throw from Roderick and a three and jumper from Brown, the Bobcats extended their lead to 69-49 with five minutes left in the game.
After the Bobcats went up 20, a three from Vander Plas with 4:16 left in the game, put Ohio up 73-51 going into the final media timeout. Out of the timeout, the Bobcats held on over the final four minutes, securing the 73-59 victory.
For Mount St. Mary's, Jalen Benjamin led with 23 points and was 5-of-6 from three. Mezie Offurum added 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds.
IOWA CITY, IOWA – A total of nine different Broncos got in the scoring column Monday night, but Western Michigan fell to Iowa, 109-61, in a non-conference game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Lamar Norman Jr. led the Broncos (1-3) in scoring with 19 points including five three-pointers. Mack Smith filled the stat sheet with 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting, six rebounds, five assists, and a block. Titus Wright added seven points, seven boards, a block and a steal. Keegan Murray paced Iowa (5-0) with 29 points.
A pair of free-throws by Mack made it 8-6 Iowa with 15:28 to go in the opening frame, but the Hawkeyes caught fire and closed the half on a 41-14 run. The Broncos poured in 41 points in the second half, but could not keep pace with hot-shooting Iowa.
WMU won the rebounding battle 38-37, and had a season-best 13 offensive boards. Danny Kolp totaled eight points, his most as a Bronco, and was 3-for-3 from the field, 2-for-2 from the free-throw line in nine minutes of action.
Up next, the Broncos travel to Fort Myers, Fla. For the Hilton Garden Inn Florida Gulf Coast University Invitational. WMU will take on host FGCU on Friday, Nov. 27 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+ before squaring off with Purdue Fort Way on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. and Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday at 1:30 p.m.