Detroit 67, Western Michigan 57
Central Michigan 84, Valparaiso 79
Akron 97, Cedarville 49
Ball State 82, Illinois State 66
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TOLEDO, Ohio - Junior Setric Millner Jr. tallied a team-high 17 points and 10 rebounds on Saturday afternoon to lead Toledo (4-3) to a 64-57 non-conference triumph over Kansas City (2-4) in Savage Arena.
Joining Millner Jr. in double digits was senior Marreon Jackson (16 pts.), freshman Ryan Rollins (14 pts.) and sophomore Keshaun Saunders (10 pts.). Senior Brandon McKissic topped the Roos' attack with a game-high 21 points but was limited to just five after halftime.
Toledo held a decided advantage at the free-throw line, knocking down 23-of-26 attempts compared to Kansas City's 7-of-11 effort. The Rockets also controlled the glass with a 30-21 rebounding margin.
Toledo ended the first half on a 7-2 spurt capped off by Marreon Jackson's buzzer-beating pull-up jump shot to take a 38-28 lead to the locker room.
The visitors opened the second half strong, scoring six straight points to trim Toledo's lead to 38-34.
A pair of Rollins free throws and a layup from Littleson slowed down the Roos a bit but they kept pushing and closed within 46-43 with 12:52 to play.
Jackson and Millner then scored five points apiece during a 10-1 spurt that increase Toledo's lead to double digits, 56-44, at the eight-minute mark.
Kansas City made one last rally to close within 60-57 with 2:24 remaining, but Jackson closed out the game with four straight free throws.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men’s basketball team dropped a tough 67-57 battle with in-state foe Detroit Mercy on Saturday afternoon inside University Arena.
The Broncos had three players score in double figures led by sophomore center Titus Wright who registered his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Wright was 6-of-10 from the field against the Titans and corralled seven offensive rebounds in 32 minutes of action.
Senior Greg Lee registered his best game as a Bronco, nearly posting a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. Lee in 29 minutes was 6-of-12 from the field and had five offensive rebounds with one assist and one block.
Rounding out the double digit scoring trio was sophomore B. Artis White with 11 points. White also had three assists, four rebounds and one steal. Off the bench the Broncos received five points from junior Adrian Martin on 2-of-6 shooting from the field with one three-pointer.
As a team the Broncos shot just 35.9 percent from the field and was 5-of-27 from long distance. Western Michigan outrebounded Detroit Mercy, 41-34 and held a 17-9 advantage on the offensive glass.
Midway through the second half the Broncos held a 44-43 advantage before Detroit Mercy embarked on a 12-2 run to regain the lead. The Titans pulled away down the stretch as WMU went just 1-of-9 from the field and have five turnovers in a span of eight minutes. Wright converted an and-one with 1:19 remaining to get WMU to within seven.
However, the Brown & Gold were unable to mount a comeback as Detroit Mercy made its final eight free-throws to grab the 67-57 victory.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Devontae Lane scored a career-high 27 points on Saturday to lead Central Michigan to an 84-79 nonconference victory over Valparaiso at McGuirk Arena.
It was the Chippewas' home opener and it was their second-consecutive win after opening the season with three straight losses on the road.
The Chippewas play host to St. Francis (Ill.) on Monday (4:30 p.m.), and then open Mid-American Conference play at Western Michigan on Friday, Dec. 18 (2 p.m.).
"I'm really proud of this team," said CMU coach Keno Davis, whose team improve to 2-3. "To start off the season and to have to go on the road with so many new faces, injuries to our team, illnesses – everything that we're facing.
"I think we've improved rapidly the last couple weeks. Doesn't mean that we're a finished product, but I like the energy, the effort that we've been able to give and hopefully we'll continue that moving forward into the MAC season."
How It Happened
The Chippewas led 44-30 at halftime and bumped their lead to 15 early in the second.
Valparaiso (2-4) twice whittled its deficit to one point in the final five-plus minutes; the second time at 69-68 on a Daniel Sackey jumper with 4:53 to play.
Lane, who made a career-high five 3-pointers in the game, hit a triple 14 seconds later to put the Chippewas in front by four, 72-68. Valparaiso then drew to within two, 78-76, with under 30 seconds remaining before Travon Broadway Jr. made a layup to re-up the lead to four, 80-76.
Lane and Broadway made two free throws each in the final 10 seconds to ice it.
Leaders
Broadway made 14 of his 17 free throw attempts and finished with 21 points, while Lane was good on five of his six 3-point tries and was 8-for-10 from the line.
Meikkel Murray added 10 points and led the Chippewas with eight rebounds. CMU outrebounded the Crusaders, 36-31.
AKRON, Ohio – The Akron Zips wasted no time launching an all-out offensive blitz once they finally stepped onto the court in a 97-49 win over visiting Cedarville on Saturday afternoon at James A. Rhodes Arena.
Led by senior guard Loren Cristian Jackson, the Zips fired away from 3-point range from the opening tip-off, ultimately converting 16-of-40 looks (40.0 percent) from distance to easily outpace the Yellow Jackets (0-2).
Jackson led Akron with 19 points and a game-high nine assists on the day and sophomore forward Ali Ali added 12 points in the win. Sophomore forward Jermaine Marshall also reached double figures in his Akron debut, scoring 12 points and making all four of his field goal attempts. Sophomore Mikal Dawson rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 points, while senior Maishe Dailey collected nine points.
With their perimeter barrage, the Zips (1-0) took the lead at the 18:46 mark of the first half and never trailed again. After building a 15-point halftime advantage (39-24), Akron opened the second stanza with full-court defensive pressure early, allowing the Zips to extend its lead to as many as 48 points en route to a season-opening victory.
The outside shooting touch extended across the roster as six different Akron players converted a shot from beyond the arc. As proficient as the Zips were shooting triples on the day, they were equally effective defending against them.
Cedarville was able to make just four of its 19 triples, a number compounded by the Yellow Jackets' inability to get to the free throw line. With no attempts from the charity stripe in the opening half and just four attempts for the game, the visitors had to subsist on an offensive diet of medium and long-range attempts from inside the arc.
Even there, the Zips were able to force tough shots, deflect passes and limit Cedarville to one look per possession as they outrebounded the visitors 46-23. That performance on the glass also allowed Akron to regularly get out in transition and post a 25-1 edge in fastbreak points.
Freshman forward Jay Maughmer led Cedarville with 13 points in the loss and junior guard Brandon Redendo chipped in with nine points for the Yellow Jackets.
MUNCIE, IN -- Ball State played its most complete game of the year in an 82-66 win over Illinois State Saturday night. Ishmael El-Amin scored 20 points and Brachen Hazen had a double-double (14 points, 11 rebounds) as Ball State (3-2) extended its win streak to three games.
BSU jumped out to a 20-9 lead early and shot 56 percent in the first half en route to a 50-36 halftime lead. The Cardinals led by double figures for most of the night and were only seriously challenged for a brief moment when Illinois State closed within 66-60. Ball State scored 12 of the game's next 18 points after that to cruise to the win.
TURNING POINT: Ball State led 20-12 in the first segment of the game, then got a quick 7-0 run that featured five points from Kani Acree and a bucket from Blake Huggins. That gave Ball State a 15-point lead and it controlled the majority of the night after that.
BALANCED ATTACK: In addition to El-Amin's 20 and Hazen's 14, Ball State got scoring from all over. Leading scorer K.J. Walton had 10 points and four steals, as Illinois State made efforts to slow down the Cardinal who was averaging 22.8 points a game. Acree added eight points and Luke Bumbalough seven as the Cards scored 80+ points for the first time this season.
FROM THE HEAD COACH: "Our guys played really well. Top to bottom, that's the best we've played this year. We executed well on offense and scored 82 points. Honestly, if we made some shots, we could've scored 90-plus. We played a good game on both ends," head coach James Whitford said.