BOWLING GREEN 102, OHIO DOMINICAN 65
TOLEDO 103, LOURDES 88
MIAMI 90, ST. MARY-OF-THE-WOODS 51
ANN ARBOR, Mich.--Head Coach Tony Barbee was searching for a signature win and found it this evening in Ann Arbor as lefthanded freshman Reggie Bass swished a double-pump 3-pointer with 11.6 seconds to play as Central Michigan defeated Michigan, 63-61, Thursday evening in Crisler Arena.
Central Michigan (5-8) won for the first time in Ann Arbor since 2007 and the game marked the final non-conference contest for the Chippewas. Central Michigan opens Mid-American Conference play on Tuesday. Jan. 3 against Miami, Ohio. Tipoff for that contest is at 7 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.
Trailing by one point, 61-60, with 30 seconds to play and Central Michigan in possession of the ball, Bass dribbled up the right side of the court and with the shot clock running down, fired a double-clutch 3-pointer which swished through the net. Michigan immediately called timeout with 11.6 seconds to play, and the Wolverines missed two shots in the final seconds: a 3-pointer by Kobe Bufkin and a jumper by Hunter Dickinson. After junior Jesse Zarzuela grabbed the rebound, the Chippewas had their fifth victory of the year.
There were many heroes for Central Michigan. Zarzuela came off the bench to score a game-high 19 points with six rebounds, Bass finished with 16 points while hitting 4-11 3-point field goals and seven rebounds, and senior Brian Taylor added 12 points (6-11 shooting) to go along with four rebounds and three assists. Detroit native Carrington McCaskill also added eight points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes of action.
Afterward, Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee spoke about what a great win this was for his program and gave all the credit to his players.
"It's up there, from Final Fours, to Elite Eights and conference championships, this is as good as any of them when you're trying to build a young program," Barbee said. "Hopefully we can build off this. In life or in basketball, either you're ready for them or you pass them by. I give all the credit to our players."
"What I'm most proud of is that we were finally were able to play to our identity; we haven't done that until tonight. Our guys held the fort down for 40 minutes through good and bad; we fought and played tough. We kept fighting, kept swinging on every possession, and we gave ourselves a chance. That's who we must be."
Central Michigan outrebounded Michigan 44-32, including 17 offensive rebounds, held the Wolverines to 35.1 percent field goal shooting and just 27.3 percent (6-22) on 3-point field goals. The Chippewas outplayed and outhustled the Wolverines all evening. Barbee employed a zone for the majority of the game.
"The zone bothered them," Barbee said. "It bogged them down a little bit. They are an efficient team against man. With the zone, it kept their big men away from the basket, which allowed us to corral a lot of defensive rebounds. That was the difference in the rebounding totals. It goes back to our guys, they get all the credit, they watched Michigan on tape and saw them struggle against the zone. We noticed that on tape, the teams that gave themselves a chance played zone. I thought our guys were tougher than them and we were tougher team. The zone really helped us tonight."
The second half featured 10 lead changes. Michigan built a six-point lead (35-29) with 17:29 to play, but Central Michigan answered with a 7-0 run featuring a Taylor jumper, two Bass free throws, and a 3-pointer by Zarzuela, which put the Chippewas up 36-35 with 16:14 to play.
Later, another 7-0 CMU run fueled by a Bass 3-pointer, McCaskill jumper, and Zarzuela jumper, gave the Chippewas a five-point lead (49-44) with 10:30 to play.
But Michigan was not finished as the host Wolverines grabbed the lead back, 61-60, with 2:27 to play on a free throw by Hunter Dickinson. CMU stepped up defensively, holding Michigan 0-4 the rest of the way as Bass' 3-pointer with 11.7 seconds to play was the final points in the game.
"Give Reggie credit," Barbee said. "Things aren't always going to go perfect. Can you still fight and compete when things aren't going well? Reggie willed that 3-pointer, but more importantly, what we did defensively, we stopped them, which was the most important thing.
"Carrington McCaskill, he was huge tonight. That's what he must be for us. He plays with heart, hustle, fight, and desire. He didn't think tonight and that's what he can give us."
In the first half, Michigan built its largest lead in the game, 23-15, at the 5:49 mark. A Will Tschette free throw, Dickinson dunk and a Dug McDaniel jumper gave the Wolverines their eight-point advantage. The Chippewas kept it close in the first half until they put together a late 9-2 rally to tie the game at 24-24. With Central Michigan trailing by its largest deficit of eight points (23-15), Taylor started the rally with a jumper, Ola Ajiboye followed with a layup and a Taylor dunk cut the Wolverines' lead to 23-21 with 2:30 to go in the first half. After Dickinson converted a free throw, Central Michigan tied the game at 24-24 with a 3-point play by Zarzuela off a baseline jumper. Bass gave the Chippewas their first lead of the game at 27-25 on a 3-pointer. But Michigan went into halftime with a 28-27 lead on a Baker 3-pointer with six seconds to go in the half.
Michigan was led by Bufkin's 16 points, while Dickinson finished with 13 points, Jett Howard added 12 points, and McDaniel had 10.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green Falcons closed out the non-conference schedule with a 102-65 victory over Ohio Dominican at the Stroh Center Thursday night.
The Falcons registered a season-best 58.3% from the field while shooting 92.0% from the free throw line. The win moves Bowling Green to 6-7 on the season and 4-3 at home heading into Mid-American Conference play, which begins on Tuesday (Jan. 3).
Leon Ayers III led the Falcons to the team's highest scoring output of the season, scoring 30 points to mark BGSU's first 30-point game in over two years. Kaden Metheny joined in with 20 points to give BGSU two 20-point scorers for the first time this season. Sam Towns added his first double-double as a Falcons with 11 points and 10 rebounds while Rashaun Agee (12) and Samari Curtis (10) added double-digit points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
~~ Getting his first start of the season, Brenton Mills splashed a three for the first BGSU points of the game. The two teams matched each other shot for shot, heading into the first media timeout with the score at 7-7.
~~ Coming out of the media timeout, the Falcons went on a 13-0 run to move out in front 20-7. The Panthers cut the lead down to 10 at 22-12 going into the next media timeout.
~~ A few short bursts allowed Ohio Dominican to trim the Bowling Green lead to 42-37 at the halftime break.
~~ The Falcons came out in the second half and began with an 8-0 run to push the BGSU lead to 50-37 and force a timeout from ODU.
~~ Bowling Green continued to press forward and increase the lead, including another 13-0 run to extend the advantage to 77-45.
~~ Ohio Dominican registered a bucket before another 14-0 stretch in favor of the Falcons to push the score to 91-47 and the BGSU run to 27-2.
~~ The Panthers put together an 8-0 run to bring the score to 98-58 Bowling Green with just over two and a half minutes left.
~~ ODU closed the game with a 7-0 stretch to bring the final score to 102-65, marking two consecutive wins while scoring 90+ for the Orange and Brown.
TOLEDO, Ohio – A season-high six Rockets scored in double digits to lead Toledo to a 103-88 victory over cross-town foe Lourdes Univ. on Thursday evening in Savage Arena. The meeting was the first ever between the two programs and served as UT's final non-conference contest this season.
"I was disappointed with our play tonight, especially our defense," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "I thought Ra'Heim was really good defensively all night, and RayJ was in the second half. We have to talk a lot more, because we were really quiet tonight. If we're going to compete for a championship, we can't defend like we did."
Senior Setric Millner Jr. paced Toledo (9-4) with a season-high 25 points. Junior RayJ Dennis also topped the 20-point plateau and was followed by sophomore Ra'Heim Moss (season-high 18 pts.), senior JT Shumate (13 pts.), sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. (13 pts.) and sophomore EJ Farmer (10 pts.).
Seniors Joey Holifield and Jackie Harris scored 23 and 20 points, respectively, to lead the Gray Wolves (10-5).
"I want to give Jackie Harris credit for hitting some tough, deep shots. That's what he does," Kowalczyk said. "Joey Holifield got to his right hand too much and attacked us quite a bit because of that."
Shumate topped the Rockets on the boards by tying his season high with eight rebounds. He was followed by Dennis with seven boards, who also dished out a team-high six assists.
Toledo shot 54.7 percent from the field, 34.5 percent (10-of-29) from three-point range and 76.7 percent (23-of-30) from the charity stripe. The Gray Wolves posted a 50.0 shooting mark and were red-hot from three-point range (54.2 percent, 13-of-24) and the free-throw line (11-of-11).
"I'm happy with our 9-4 record against really good competition combined with tough travel, but I would like to think we're better than that," said Kowalczyk about his team which opens Mid-American Conference play on Tuesday night vs. Ball State in Savage Arena. "We need to get better."
(Courtesy of UT Athletics )
By MIKE SMITH
OXFORD, OH -- Miami connected on 65.5 percent from the field in the first half and 55 percent for the night as the RedHawks cruised past St. Mary-of-the-Woods College (6-9) 90-51 Thursday at Millett Hall.
Morgan Safford scored a game-high 19 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds to lead Miami (6-7). Sophomore guard Julian Lewis returned . . . CONTINUE