AKRON 63, WESTERN MICHIGAN 55
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 88, EASTERN MICHIGAN 67
BOWLING GREEN 83, MIAMI 73
ATHENS, Ohio – Led by a career-high 27 points from senior guard Miles Brown, the Ohio Bobcats (10-9, 2-4 MAC) defeated Central Michigan (7-12, 2-4 MAC), 96-68, Saturday afternoon inside the Convocation Center.
Miles Brown led with his career-high 27 points, going 9-of-12 from the field, while hitting a career-high six threes. He also grabbed five rebounds and was 3-of-4 from the line. Graduate student forward Dwight Wilson III added 12 points and eight rebounds, followed by junior guard Jaylin Hunter with 12 points. Freshman guard AJ Brown had a bounce back game with 11 points and four rebounds.
Overall, Ohio shot 52 percent from the field, went 15-of-32 from three and was 15-of-21 from the line, while CMU shot 44 percent from the field, 28 percent from three and was 17-of-25 from the line, Ohio out-rebounded CMU,38-32, while the Bobcats dished out 15 assists to their eight. Ohio also forced 15 CMU turnovers and scored 26 points off them.
For CMU, Brian Taylor led with 27 points and 11 rebounds, followed by Markus Harding with 16 points.
Ohio jumped out to an early 15-4 advantage and was able to take a 52-31 lead to intermission.
Ohio opened the second half with a layup from Wilson III and a three from Hunter to put the Bobcats up 26 early in the second half. Once CMU responded with a three, threes from senior forward Ben Roderick and AJ Brown gave the Bobcats a 63-36 lead going into the first media timeout.
Over the next 10 minutes, both teams traded baskets and free throws, with CMU cutting the Ohio lead to 72-49 with 7:59 remaining in the game. Out of the timeout, Miles Brown's sixth three of the day put the Bobcats up 24, before both teams traded baskets and free throws, before a three from Hunter increased Ohio's lead to 83-56 with 4:08 remaining in the game.
CMU capitalized on some late free throws. However, the Bobcats matched with three pointers, helping secure the 96-68 victory.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Another stifling defensive performance by Akron led to its third consecutive road win as the Zips defeated Western Michigan 63-55 on Saturday at Read Fieldhouse.
Senior Xavier Castaneda led the Zips scoring with 32 points, his third 30-plus point effort of the season. Castaneda swiped three of the Zips eight total steals and grabbed seven rebounds. Junior Enrique Freeman led the team on the glass, securing 11 rebounds and junior Greg Tribble added nine points while graduate Trendon Hankerson grabbed six rebounds.
Akron (13-6, 5-1 MAC) scored 16 points off turnovers, forcing Western Michigan (6-13, 2-4 MAC) into 15 total miscues. The Zips swarming defense limited the Mid-American Conference's third leading scorer, Lamar Norman Jr. (19.1 ppg), to score only six points in the contest. Norman attempted only three field goals in the first half to finish the initial 20 minutes with only one point. The Zips forced Norman into five turnovers as he ended the game shooting 2-of-8 from the field and 1-of-6 from deep as Tribble was the primary defender for Akron.
Akron only connected with 36.5 percent for their shots from the field (23-of-63), while collecting 22 points in the paint. The Broncos edged the Zips on the glass 47-31 which led to 11 second chance points.
Akron used a 9-2 run to take a 16-8 early in the game, and the advantage grew to 25-16 by the 7-minute mark. After a pause in action, the Broncos used an 8-0 run to cut the Zips lead to one point (25-24) and the home team eventually knotted the game 30-30 before the break. Castande
Castaneda scored the Zips final xx points and held Norman without a field goal 0-3 with one point. Zips caused 10 first-half turnovers en route to 11 points from the Broncos miscues. Five steals, three by Castaneda drilled a stepback jumper from the top of the key as time expired to give Akron a 32-30 halftime advantage.
Broncos open second half on 7-0 run to take a brief lead by as many as five points 39-34, but the lead didn't last as Akron came roaring back with six unanswered points. The Zips eventually reclaimed control of the scoreboard 42-41 and outscored WMU 21-14 the rest of the way.
YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Northern Illinois Huskies shot 72.4 percent (21-of-29) in the first half and led wire-to-wire in an 88-67 victory over Eastern Michigan on Saturday afternoon at the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
David Coit scored a team-high 24 points, on 8-of-12 shooting, including 5-of-9 from three, with five assists, Zarique Nutter added 19 points, Darweshi Hunter chipped in 16 points and Anthony Crump scored 13 points as the Huskies picked up their second consecutive road win and improved to 3-3 in league play.
Crump was 6-of-8 from the floor while Hunter was 5-of-8, including 4-of-7 from three.
Noah Farrakhan scored a game-high 26 points to lead the way for Eastern Michigan.
NIU raced out to a 13-3 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest. Coit scored five while Harvin Ibarguen and Crump each had four as the Huskies took the early 10-point lead.
In front by nine, NIU used a 7-0 burst to take a 25-9 lead with 11:20 to play in the first half.
The Eagles used a 6-3 spurt to trim the Huskie lead to 13, but Crump converted back-to-back buckets at the rim as the NIU advantage grew to 32-15 with just over eight minutes to play in the first half.
An old-fashioned three-point play from Nutter, followed by a dunk from Ibarguen, gave the Huskies a 48-25 lead, their largest of the half. Eastern Michigan answered with the next six before Kaleb Thornton closed the half with a jumper, giving the Huskies a 50-31 lead at the intermission.
The Huskies and Eagles traded baskets for the first eight minutes of the second half.
After four-straight points from Eastern Michigan cut the NIU advantage to 62-45, Crump made a bucket and Nutter converted an old-fashioned three-point play, giving NIU a 67-45 lead just past the midway point of the second half.
Eastern Michigan answered with a 9-2 run to trim the NIU lead to 15, 69-54, but Coit scored the next five as the advantage grew back to 20 with 6:53 left.
NIU shot 59.3 percent (32-of-54) from the field in the contest, including 40 percent (10-of-25) from three. The Huskies scored 40 points in the paint, compared to just 24 for the Eagles.
By MIKE SMITH
BOWLING GREEN, OH -- A career performance by Leon Ayers III and the Falcons big night at the free throw line combined to help Bowling Green hand the Miami RedHawks an 83-73 defeat Saturday at the Stroh Center.
It was the third straight loss for MU, which fell to 1-5 in MAC play (7-12 overall). Bowling Green, meanwhile, broke a three-game losing streak and raised its MAC record to 3-3 (9-10 overall).
Ayers led the way for BGSU with a career-high 31 points. He connected on 10-of-12 from the field, 3-of-5 trey attempts and 8-of-9 free throws. Joining him in double figures for the Falcons were Kaden Metheny (15) and Samari Curtis (10). Rashaun Agee chipped in nine points in just 14 minutes of action.
Morgan Safford, who tallied 27 against . . . CONTINUE