TOLEDO 81, MIAMI 78
EASTERN MICHIGAN 90, OHIO 79
BALL STATE 69, BOWLING GREEN 60
KENT STATE 81, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 69
AKRON 81, BUFFALO 64
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Balanced scoring and defense helped lead Northern Illinois to a 73-59 victory over Western Michigan on Tuesday night at University Arena. Kaleb Thornton scored 15 points, while David Coit and Zarique Nutter each had 13 as the Huskies held the Broncos to just 31.3 percent (21-of-67) shooting and 9.1 percent (2-of-22) from three-point range.
With the win, NIU (9-13, 5-4 MAC) has already matched its win total from a season ago and had recorded back-to-back wins in Kalamazoo for the first time since 1981 and 1982.
The Huskies outscored the Broncos off turnovers, 15-5, and despite trailing in offensive rebounds, 23-10, scored more second chance points than Western Michigan, 9-8.
NIU jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the opening four minutes of the contest. Four different Huskies scored, including an old-fashioned three-point play from Harvin Ibarguen , as the visitors went in front early.
An 11-2 run by the Huskies forced a Western Michigan timeout. Coit and Thornton knocked in back-to-back triples to open the run, after a Bronco bucket, Ibarguen scored and Darweshi Hunter added a wing three to give NIU a 20-6 lead with 12:18 left in the half, forcing a Western Michigan timeout.
The NIU run reached 14-2 on a layup from Nutter and a free throw from Hunter as the Huskies took a 23-8 advantage just before the midway point of the opening half.
Western Michigan used a 7-0 burst to cut the Huskie lead to 10 until Hunter knocked in a corner triple, his second of the half, to push the NIU lead to 32-19 with just under four minutes to play before the intermission.
NIU took a 36-24 lead into halftime as Nutter led all scorers with eight in the opening 20 minutes.
The Broncos started the second half with a 7-2 burst, trimming the NIU lead to just seven until Thornton made a trifecta and then added a pair of free throws to push the Huskie advantage to 43-31 with just under 16 minutes remaining.
After Western Michigan got back within eight, 43-35, Thornton knocked in another three to ignite an 8-2 Huskie burst with Nutter finishing at the rim and Coit connecting on a wing triple, giving the Huskies a 51-37 lead.
A 10-0 run for NIU, with Oluwasegun Durosinmi, Hunter and Anthony Crump combining to go 8-of-8 from the charity stripe during the burst, helped the Huskies push their lead to 61-39 with eight minutes left as they closed out their third consecutive road victory.
Markeese Hastings finished with 22 points and 19 rebounds for Western Michigan, Titus Wright added 16 points and Norman closed with 10.
By MIKE SMITH
OXFORD, OH -- RayJ Dennis equaled his career high of 29 points to lead Toledo over Miami 81-78 Tuesday at Millett Hall.
Toledo (7-2 MAC, 16-6 overall) had to fight off a scrappy Miami to gain its sixth straight victory. The RedHawks (1-8, 7-15) went down swinging while absorbing their sixth consecutive loss. The last three have been by five points or less.
Four MU players reached double figures, led by Morgan Safford's 25 points with 11 rebounds. Point guard Mekhi Lairy . . . CONTINUE
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) - Eastern Michigan received a career-high performance in Tyson Acuff's 29 points as the Eagles claimed a 90-79 victory over the Ohio University Bobcats Tuesday inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
The Eagles (6-16, 3-6 MAC) had five players score in double figures, including Acuff, who also added six assists. Emoni Bates tacked on 19 points and Kevin-David Rice helped out with 11 points.
Eastern Michigan utilized impressive ball movement in the game, piling up 16 assists on 30 made field goals. Acuff's career-high six assists were the most for the Eagles while Noah Farrakhan also added four assists of his own.
How It Happened
After jumping out to a 37-35 advantage, Eastern Michigan went on a 6-0 run with 3:04 left in the first half, culminating in a triple from Yusuf Jihad, to increase its lead to 43-35. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 47-40 advantage. The Eagles relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down seven shots to account for 21 of its 47 points.
Eastern Michigan kept its lead intact before going on a 5-0 run, finished off by Bates' three, to grow the lead to 61-52 with 10:22 to go in the contest. The Eagles kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 90-79 win. The Green and White shot well from three-point range in the half, hitting six shots from deep to score 18 of its 43 points.
Dwight Wilson paced Ohio with 23 points and 12 boards. Jaylin Hunter contributed 22 points, followed by Game Wiznitzer (13) and Dlmore James (12).
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Jarron Coleman recorded a game-high 19 points as the Ball State defeated the Bowling Green Falcons 69-60 Tuesday at the Stroh Center.
Ball State improved to 15-7 overall and 6-3 in Mid-American Conference play, while Bowling Green fell to 10-12 overall and 4-5 in league play. The Cardinals surpassed last season's win total with nine games left to play.
Coleman finished with a game-high 19 points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals. Jaylin Sellers tallied 11 points with two rebounds and one block. Payton Sparks finished with a game-high 10 boards along with five points, one assist, and one steal. Demarius Jacobs led the team with three assists, and added eight points, five rebounds, two steals, and one block.
The Cardinals came out of the gates fast and went on an 11-2 run to start the game. Ball State followed with a 10-4 run and took an 21-6 lead with 12:38 left in the opening stanza.
The Falcons were able to outscore the Cardinals, 9-6, and cut the BSU lead to, 27-15, with 8:11 left in the half. Ball State outscored Bowling Green 13-11 in the final 6:46 of the half to take a 40-26 lead into the break.
The Falcons began the second half on an 11-1 run and cut the Cardinal lead to 41-37 with 15:44 on the clock. Ball State answered with an 8-0 run and took a 49-37 lead with just under 14 minutes left in regulation.
Bowling Green went on an 11-2 run that lasted 3:46 and cut the deficit to three, 51-48, with 9:59 left to play. The Falcons outscored the Cardinals, 10-8 and cut the lead to just one, 59-58, with just over five minutes left to play.
Ball State was resilient and ended the game on a 10-2 run and won the game 69-60. Coleman iced the game with a steal and a fastbreak layup.
Leon Ayers III led the Falcons with 14 points and three assists. Chandler Turner chipped in with 13 points, six rebounds, and two steals. Rashaun Agee went for 11 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and had two steals.
As a team, the Cardinals finished the game shooting 50.0 percent from the field. Ball State scored the game's first points and never surrendered the lead the remainder of the game.
Kent, Ohio - Kent State (18-4, 8-1 MAC) remained undefeated at home with a win against Central Michigan 81-69. The Flashes own the second-longest home winning in the country at 18 games.
Flashes' Chris Payton helped the Flashes get by with a double-double and career-high 18 points and 12 rebounds. This is the first time this season Payton has recorded a double-double. Payton has been a roll crashing the board and making plays defensively cleaning the glass with four blocks. Six players followed recording double-digits. Sincere Carry scored 13 points and a team-high six assists.
Giovanni Santiago held the Flashes together in the first half shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 3-of-3 from beyond the arch. The Flashes fell behind in the first half as the Chippewas converted 53 percent (17-of-32) of its field goal attempts and 64 percent (9-of-14) of its first-half 3-point field goals. CMU Marking Harding challenged the Flashes' defense recording a game-high 22 points.
The Flashes answered the challenge by coming out on fire in the second half of the game. Kent State came back to tie the game at 48-48 and 50-50, then went on a 6-0 run to take a 54-50 lead with 13:18 to play. Payton scored on a layup, followed by Giovanni Santiago scoring two points from the charity strip to go up 52-50. Kent State went on a 14-0 run to help them gain the lead and finish the Chippewas.
Markus Harding led Central Michigan with 22 points. Brian Taylor and Reggie Bass also reached double figures, with 16 apiece.
Buffalo, NY – Akron increased its winning streak to seven games, including four consecutive road games, as the Zips defeated Buffalo 81-64 at Alumni Arena on Tuesday night.
Senior Xavier Castaneda paced the Zips with 32 points on a nearly flawless shooting performance. He shot 10-of-12 from the field and 7-of-8 from long distance, only missing the mark on his final two attempts. It was Castaneda's fifth 30-plus point performance of the season and fourth straight game a Zip dropped 32.
Castaneda was one of four Zips to register double figures in points as junior Enrique Freeman had 18 points and nine rebounds, while graduate Trendon Hankerson and freshman Nate Johnson each tallied nine points.
A smothering defense and explosive offense set the tone from the opening tap, as Castaneda recorded 10 of the first 12 points for Akron (16-6, 8-1). The Zips built a 20-point advantage by the 5:49 mark en route to a 42-25 halftime lead.
Akron posted a 56.7 shooting percent from the field (17-of-30), including a 71.4 effort from deep (5-of-7) and 75.0 percent from the free throw line. Castaneda finished the initial 20-minutes 6-of-6 and 3-of-3 from downtown. Defensively, Akron caused 11 UB turnovers with six steals and four blocked shots, resulting in 19 points.
The Zips carried the momentum into the second frame, shooting over 50 percent from the floor and 60 percent from distance. Akron led by as many as 24 points with 14:09 left to play. Buffalo (10-12, 4-5) cut the deficit to 12 and 13 points on three occasions, but two paint points from Hankerson stalled their run. Nate Johnson halted the second comeback effort with a corner three and Hankerson hit a long-range jumper from the opposite corner to stop the final attempt at a comeback.
The Zips finished the game shooting 55.4 percent from the floor (31-of-56), 66.7 from beyond the arc (12-of-18) and 70.0 percent from the charity stripe (7-of-10). Akron caused 18 turnovers for the game with 10 steals and six blocked shots. The Bulls won the battle of the boards 36-27.
Curtis Jones paced the Bulls with 19 points, while Isaiah Adams and Yazid Powell contributed 13 and 10 in the loss.