Western Michigan 76, Central Michigan 61
Bowling Green 85, Robert Morris 65
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DEKALB, Ill. – Sophomore Tyler Cochran led four Huskies in double figures as Northern Illinois topped Chicago State, 64-54, on Friday evening at the NIU Convocation Center. Cochran tied his career-high with 15 points while grabbing a career-best 12 rebounds for his second career double-double.
Junior Darius Beane scored 13 points, junior Trendon Hankerson added 12 points and junior Adong Makuoi chipped in 11 points and a career-high eight rebounds.
The Huskies held a 41-28 rebounding advantage in the contest and outscored the Cougars in the paint, 38-18.
NIU (1-5) raced out to an early 7-0 lead as junior Zool Kueth opened the contest with a triple, followed by baskets from sophomore Kaleb Thornton and Cochran.
With the Huskies in front by a half-dozen, Chicago State (0-8) used a 9-2 burst to take a 12-11 lead before an old-fashioned three-point play from Cochran moving NIU back in front.
The two teams battled and NIU built its advantage to nine, 32-23, at the break.
A pair of triples early in the second half pulled Chicago State within five, but a basket by Cochran and five-straight points from Beane helped the Huskies lead grow back to a dozen, 41-29, with 15:34 left.
With NIU in front, 53-43, Chicago State used a 9-0 burst to cut the Huskie lead to just one, 53-52, with 4:10 remaining.
NIU answered with a pair of layups from Beane to help the Huskies close the game with an 11-2 run. Makuoi and Cochran each added a bucket and the Huskies went 3-of-4 from the foul line in the final minute to earn the 10-point victory.
Johnson finished with a game-high 23 points to lead Chicago State, Levelle Zeigler chipped in 10 points.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Western Michigan never trailed and shot a staggering 70.8 percent in the second half to down in-state rival Central Michigan 76-61 on Friday afternoon inside University Arena.
The Broncos were guided by a stellar performance from senior Greg Lee, ho earned his first double-double of the season with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Lee was 7-of-10 from the field while also matching his career-high with four assists. Over the past three games Lee has averaged 16.0 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest.
Behind Lee was sophomore B. Artis White with 16 points, nine of which came in the second half. White was 6-of-10 from the field and knocked down two three-pointers. Junior forward Patrick Emilien poured in 10 points off the bench on 3-of-4 shooting from the field with two coming from behind the three-point line.
It was a stellar shooting night for the Broncos who shot a season-high 55.6 percent from the floor and knocked down eight three-pointers. Ranking second in the MAC in scoring defense, the Broncos held the Chippewas to just 61 points on 34.9 percent shooting from the field. In the second half alone, WMU outscored CMU 43-38 and shot a staggering 70.8 percent from the field.
WMU outrebounded CMU, 37-30 with the Chippewas earning a 14-8 advantage on the offensive glass. Western Michigan had 15 turnovers to CMU's 11 with the Chippewas earning 18 points off of Bronco mistakes. However, WMU dominated in the paint outscoring CMU, 34-28.
Western Michigan built an early lead and while, CMU clawed its way back late in the first half, it wasn't enough to overtake the Broncos. WMU held a 33-23 lead at halftime.
WMU jumped out to its biggest lead of the game (21) at the 14:19 mark of the second stanza after a Whitens three-pointer from straight on highlighted a 14-2 run. Leading 55-38 with 11:28 remaining the Chippewas rallied and embarked on a 12-2 run to cut the Bronco lead down to 10 at the halfway point of the second half.
Central Michigan cut the lead down to single digits with 6:30 left to play as the WMU offense committed three turnovers in a two-minute span. With CMU trailing by eight, senior Rafael Cruz Jr. , connected on a corner three with the shot clock winding down to give WMU a double-digit lead and the Broncos never looked back.
Western Michigan made six of its final seven field goals, pulling away from the Chippewas in the end for the 76-61 victory. It's the second straight year WMU has won its MAC opener. The victory also snapped a six-game losing streak to CMU.
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team went on the road Friday (Dec. 18) night and earned an 85-65 victory at Robert Morris University. The non-conference game was played at RMU's UPMC Events Center. With the victory, the Falcons move to 5-2 (1-0 MAC) in 2020-21.
Robert Morris falls to 1-1 on the season with the loss. The Colonials return three starters from a 20-win team that won the 2019-20 Northeast Conference Tournament.
"It feels great to post a 20-point win," Falcons head coach Michael Huger said. "We did a great job of sharing the ball tonight. The ball went inside and outside. We did a great job of defending and rebounding. I'm so proud of the guys for the bounce back that we had from the Wright State game.
The Falcons led by just four points at the break, but clamped down defensively in the final 20 minutes to turn a close contest into a 20-point win. BGSU shot over 50 percent in both halves, shooting an identical 17-of-33 across both stanzas.
Fifth-year senior guard Justin Turner – who moved into the top-five on BGSU's all-time scoring list on the night – led the Falcons with 24 points, eight rebounds and a career-high 11 assists. Turner is the first Falcon in eight years to post a double-double with points and assists.
Fellow senior Daeqwon Plowden registered a double-double himself, finishing with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Senior Trey Diggs added 13 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while junior Caleb Fields posted 13 points and a career-high five assists.