CLEVELAND STATE 71, WESTERN MICHIGAN 49
BALL STATE 67, MISSOURI STATE 64
NORTHERN IOWA 83, NORTHERN ILLINOIS 76
SOUTHERN INDIANA 69, BOWLING GREEN 57
CALIFORNIA BAPTIST 77, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 61
No. 2 HOUSTON 49, KENT STATE 44
By MIKE SMITH
OXFORD, OH -- Good starts have been hard to come by for the Miami RedHawks basketball team so far this year, but MU got out of the gates quickly Saturday, and that launched the RedHawks on the way to an eventual 80-67 over Little Rock at Millett Hall.
It was Miami's second win of the season and followed three straight losses to strong opponents last week. Senior guard Mekhi Lairy led the way with 25 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Billy Smith (18), Anderson Mrambeaux (12) and Ryan Mabry (12).
Morgan Safford, injured in Miami's only other win - an 87-44 victory over Goshen College (Ind) back on Nov. 12-- returned to the lineup and narrowly missed double figures. He scored nine points, grabbed a game-high seven rebounds and dished out five assists in 35:38 of play.
Miami never trailed and quickly established an 11-point lead. Miranbeaux hit the first basket at 19:23, but freshman forward Billy Smith took over for the next five minutes. He drained five straight 3-point attempts, accounting for 15 RedHawks points on the way to a 19-8 MU advantage.
Miami led by 16 (28-12) midway through the period and extended the lead to as many as 18 before taking a 43-27 lead to the locker room. As a team, Miami hit 64 percent (16-of-25) from the field overall and 9-of-16 from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes. Little Rock, meanwhile, shot 36.4 percent (12-of-33) from the floor and 10 percent (1-of-10) on triples.
To a degree, the success reversed in the second half as the Trojans would connect on 61.9 percent from the floor, including 5-of-12 (41%) from beyond the arc. Miami would fall to 34.8 percent overall and 31.3 percent on treys in the final stanza.
Little Rock was down 17 points (52-35) when it went on an 11-0 run to pull within six (52-46) with 13:46 remaining. However, MU responded with 10 straight points. Mirambeaux started the run with two free throws and Lairy hit two triples while providing the next eight points. The fifth-year senior, who came in averaging 15.6 ppg, hit 4-of-9 triples on the night, including 3-of-7 after intermission.
Miami maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, with Little Rocket never getting closer than 11 points -- and that was in the final minute. The RedHawks made 16-of-17 free throws in the second half to help sustain their cushion.
Guard D.J. Smith led Little Rock with 18 points. Nigel John (17) and Myron Gardner (12) also reached double figures.
NOTES:
~~ This was the first meeting between the two programs. Little Rock, a long-time member of the Sunbelt Conference, is now playing in the Ohio Valley Conference. It entered the game 6-7 against Mid-American Conference foes.
~~ Turnovers were nearly equal, with the Trojans committing 11 to Miami's 12. However, Little Rock's pressure defense did record 10 steals.
~~ Rebounds were also nearly equal, with Miami holding a 28-27 edge.
~~ Little Rock's high pick and roll efforts in the second half helped it gain a 28-18 advantage in points in the paint. MU had the edge in bench points, 16-10.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team fell at home to Cleveland State, 71-49, in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon at University Arena.
Lamar Norman Jr. led Western Michigan (2-5) in scoring for the fifth game in a row, as the senior netted 13 points. Titus Wright added eight points and a game-high six rebounds for the Broncos.
WMU won the opening tip and tallied the first basket of the afternoon, as JaVaughn Hannah grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in to get the Broncos on the board first. Cleveland State (4-3) answered with the next nine to grab a 9-2 advantage a little more than three minutes into the contest.
With CSU leading 16-9, the visitors put together an 8-0 run to boost the margin to 24-9 at the 9:05 mark. Norman's only three-pointer of the afternoon brought the Broncos to within 12, 26-14, but Cleveland State answered and took a 38-19 lead into the locker room.
The Vikings started out the second half on the front foot as well, netting the first seven points out of the break to increase their advantage to 45-19 with 17:35 on the clock. Cleveland State reached its largest lead of the afternoon, 68-37, with four minutes remaining. Western Michigan countered with the next six points to start a game-ending 12-3 run.
WMU had a tough afternoon shooting, as it was held to 37.3 percent (19-of-51) from the floor. Cleveland State connected on 28-of-58 (48.3 percent) from the field, including 10-of-23 (43.5 percent) from beyond the arc.
NASSAU, The Bahamas – Payton Sparks led the Cardinals with a double-double behind a career high in points as Ball State took down Missouri State 67-64 at the Baha Mar Convention Center in day two action of the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship. The Cardinals improved to 4-2 on the season, while Missouri State fell to 2-3 on the year.
Sparks produced his first double-double of the season with a career-high 24 points and game-high 12 rebounds. Sparks shot 8-of-10 from the field, including 1-of-1 from behind the 3-point line. He finished tied for the team lead with two steals to go along with his one block.
Demarius Jacobs recorded double-digit points for the fifth time this season with his 10-point effort. Jacobs added three assists, one steal, and one block. Jarron Coleman notched his fifth-straight game with double digits with 10 points. Coleman brought down eight rebounds with two assists and two steals. Luke Bumbalough tied for a team-best three assists to go along with his eight points.
Ball State and Missouri State traded buckets to start the game. With the scored tied at 4-4 with 16:13 on the clock, the Bears went on an 11-4 run and took a 15-8 lead with just under 13 minutes left in the first stanza. After Ball State cut the deficit to four, 15-11, Missouri State scored four unanswered to take an eight-point lead, 19-11.
The Cardinals were resilient and responded with a 10-0 run. The run gave Ball State a 21-19 lead with 8:17 left in the half.
The Bears took a 38-27 lead with just 1:48 left on the clock as they saw their largest lead of the game. Ball State ended the first half on an 8-0 run and cut the deficit to 38-35 at the break. Basheer Jihad hit Sparks with a perfect pass on an in-bound play for Sparks to hit a 3-pointer as time expired in the half.
Missouri State saw a 44-37 lead with 17:39 left in regulation. The Cardinals were unfazed and climbed back to tie the contest 47-47 with 13:50 on the clock. MSU was able to extend its lead to as much as four, but once again BSU battled back to tie it at 52-52 with 9:19 left to play.
The Cardinals' defense was stout in the second half as Ball State held Missouri State without a made field goal from 11:06, with the Bears going on a field goal drought from 11:59 to 0:53 in the second half. BSU held a 66-56 lead, its largest of the game, with 58 seconds left in the game. Missouri State made things tough down the stretch, but Ball State kept its composure and claimed a 67-64 victory.
Chance Moore led the Bears with 14 points and brought down one rebound. Alston Mason went for 12 points and three rebounds. Jonathan Mogbo led Missouri State with two blocks.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Leading by just two with two minutes to play, Northern Iowa used a 7-0 burst to hold off Northern Illinois, 83-76, on Saturday afternoon at the McLeod Center.
Keshawn Williams scored a team-high 28 points and both teams shot better than 50 percent from the field in the second half, but the Panthers shot 13 more free throws than the Huskies in the second half.
David Coit added 14 points for NIU, Armandas Plintauskas netted a career-best 12 and Zarique Nutter added 10 points.
Northern Iowa (2-3) went 25-of-36 (69.4 percent) from the free-throw line in the contest while NIU was 16-of-18 (88.9 percent). The Panthers had a 25-10 advantage in second chance points after pulling down 15 offensive rebounds.
The Huskies were down just one at the break, 32-31, as Coit made a pair of free throws on the final possession of the half for NIU. The visitors outscored UNI 8-1 in the final two minutes of the half. Coit led the Huskies with 10 first half points, including 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. Bowen Born had 11 to pace UNI.
Williams scored the first six points of the second half, including an old-fashioned three-point play, to give NIU a five-point lead early in the second half. After a bucket by the Panthers, Williams added a triple from the top of the key to give the Huskies a 40-34 advantage less than four minutes into the second period. The guard from Chicago Heights, Ill., scored 23 of his 28 points in the second half.
NIU (2-5) led by seven after a trifecta from Nutter, his second of the half, but Northern Iowa went on a 16-2 run as the Panthers led 57-50 with just over nine minutes left.
A pair of free throws and a triple from Williams brought NIU back within three, 60-57, but the Panthers scored the next four to lead by seven with 6:33 to play.
With the hosts still in front by seven, Williams knocked in a triple with 3:32 remaining to cut the deficit to four, 71-67. The two teams traded basket and UNI then made a free throw to lead by five until Plintauskas drained a triple, cutting the Panther advantage to just a pair, 74-72, with a little over two minutes remaining.
Northern Iowa scored the next seven however as the Panthers held off the visitors in the final minutes.
Born scored a game-high 30 points to lead UNI, Landon Wolf added 19 points off the bench while Tytan Anderson scored 16 and Michael Duax added 11 points for the Panthers.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University Falcons hosted Southern Indiana at the Stroh Center on Saturday (Nov. 26) to end a four-game road trip. The Falcons and Screaming Eagles went to the half with just three points separating the two. However, the second half leaned to USI with Southern Indiana taking a 69-57 final score to move the Falcons to 2-4 on the season.
Chandler Turner paced the Falcons with just under 32 minutes played, registering a team-high 12 points and tying with Rashaun Agee for the team-lead in rebounds with seven. Sam Towns and Leon Ayers III each added 10 points to the BGSU effort while Kaden Metheny tallied nine points and a team-high five assists.
Southern Indiana took a 37-34 lead to intermission In the second half, Southern Indiana started with an early 6-0 run to push its lead to 45-36 and prompt a BGSU timeout.
The Falcons and Screaming Eagles resumed trading buckets before another BGSU timeout, this stoppage coming with a 57-45 score.
The Falcons chipped away at the lead before the next stoppage with the score at 59-48 USI.
Bowling Green began finding the paint with dunks from Sam Towns and Leon Ayers III on top of a Kaden Metheny fastbreak layup to bring the score to 65-55 at the next media break.
Out of the timeout, the lead stretched to the 69-57 final for Southern Indiana.
RIVERSIDE, Calif.--Brian Taylor finished with a career and game-high 20 points and Jesse Zarzuela scored 16 points, but it was not enough as California Baptist shot 65 percent in the second half and outscored Central Michigan 23-11 over the game's final 10 minutes to register a 77-61 win over the Chippewas Saturday evening at the CBU Events Center.
The contest concluded a seven-day, three-game road swing to California for Central Michigan as the Chippewas went 1-2 on the trip, including a 68-67 loss to High Point, an 82-66 win over Cal State Northridge, and tonight's 77-61 loss.
In the second half, California Baptist converted 65.2 percent (15-23) of its field goal attempts and 66.7 percent (6-9) of its 3-point attempts. Meanwhile, Central Michigan was held to just three field goals in the game's final 10 minutes and scored on four of its final 16 field goal attempts. CBU also outrebounded Central Michigan 48-27 and hit 11 3-pointers.
Taylor set career-highs for field goals (nine) and field goal attempts (19) and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds en route to his career-high 20 points. Sixteen of his 20 points were scored in the first half. On the other hand, Zarzuela scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half. He reached double-figure scoring for the fifth time in six games.
California Baptist (4-3) had three players reach double figure scoring. Tre Armstrong and Hunter Goodrick both scored 14 points apiece, while Riley Battin finished with 12 points. Reed Nottage and Taran Armstrong both added nine points apiece.
Two Jesse Zarzuela free throws cut California Baptist's lead down to three points (53-50) with 11:12 to play. But it was all CBU after that point as the Lancers outscored the Chippewas 23-11 the rest of the way.
An 8-0 run fueled by Tre Armstrong gave CBU a 13-point lead (70-57) with 4:27 to play. Armstrong, who scored all eight points in the rally, hit a 3-pointer, followed that up with a layup, then hit a 3-pointer in the corner for a 70-57 advantage. After CMU's Miroslav Stafl converted two free throws, Armstrong hit two free throws and a Timothy Igohefe layup gave the Lancers a 15-point lead (74-69) with 1:57 to go.
California Baptist held a small two-point lead at halftime (33-31). The Lancers scored the game's first seven points and then jumped out to a 14-6 lead in the first six minutes. But Central Michigan battled back with a 10-0 run to build a 16-14 lead with 9:22 to play in the first half. Taylor scored six straight points on a layup and two jumpers, then Max ajerle scored on a steal and layup and Emil Skytta scored on a layup for a 16-14 advantage.
CMU grabbed a 28-25 lead when McCaskill hit a 3-pointer and Majerle scored on a layup, but Cal Baptist outscored CMU 8-4 to close out the half with a 33-31 at halftime lead.
Central Michigan's leading scorer and point guard Kevin Miller did not play. It was the second contest that he missed in the last three games.
HOUSTON, TX -- Kent State forced 23 turnovers and registered 14 steals but the Flashes came up short in a 49-44 loss to No. 2 Houston Saturday.
Malique Jacobs' trey with less than a minute left put the Flashes in front 44-43. However, Jamal Shead made a layup to move Houston back ahead with 48 seconds remaining. Jarace Walker blocked a layup by Sincere Carry with 34 seconds left, and Sasser made two free throws with 29 seconds remaining to seal the Cougars win.
The Flashes came out and battled the first minutes of the game with two threes from Miryne Thomas, which led to a 15-5 lead by turning defense into offense, converting eight Houston turnovers into eight points. Kent State, however, had long shooting droughts in both halves. Finishing the first half, the Flashes missed their last 15 shots. They suffered a 1-of-18 stretch in the second half.
Despite Houston scoring a season-low 24 points in the first half and missing its first 11 3-pointers the Flashes could not get the lead they needed in order to take the win home.
VonCameron Davis showed up both offensively and defensively scoring a team-high 14 points and four defensive rebounds. Davis had his first start of the season and showed the team what he could do, showing up for rebounds and putting the ball in the net. Davis shot 50 percent from beyond the arc and 67 percent from the field.
Despite foul trouble early in the game, Malique Jacobs cleaned the glass recording a team-high seven rebounds and eight points. Giovanni Santiago helped assist in points recording a team-high of four.