EASTERN MICHIGAN 80, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 68
MARSHALL 68, AKRON 57
TOLEDO 90, RICHMOND 67
DAYTON 67, WESTERN MICHIGAN 47
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 90, EASTERN ILLINOIS 70
OHIO 113, CINCINNATI CLERMONT 44
ATHENS, Ohio – Led by six players in double figures, including double doubles by graduate student forward Dwight Wilson III and sophomore forward AJ Clayton and career nights from freshmen AJ Brown and Elmore James , the Ohio Bobcats (4-3) defeated UC Clermont, 113-44, Wednesday night (Nov. 30) inside the Convocation Center.
The 69-point margin of victory was the largest margin since Ohio defeated Cleveland State by 55 on Dec. 6, 2020 in the Convo.
"These games as a head coach can be a little scary, just from a standpoint of playing the right way," head coach Jeff Boals said. "I thought our guys did a really good job of that. They got off to a really good start and kind of kept going. Sometimes you see the selfishness and the one on one and our guys did not do that. They played the right way, which is what we wanted. Got a lot of guys in double figure minutes and a great team win for our program."
Overall, Ohio shot 62.5 percent from the field, 36 percent from three and were 14-of-24 from the line, while Clermont shot 30.5 percent from the field, 29.4 percent from three and 25 percent from the line. Ohio also grabbed 53 rebounds, dished out 26 assists and had seven steals and forced 17 turnovers.
Individually, Brown led with 18 points and four assists, while James added 16 points. Clayton scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while Wilson III scored 11 points and grabbed 12 boards. Junior guard Jaylin Hunter (Manchester, Conn.) added 10 points, while freshman Aidan Hadaway (Lafayette, Ga.) added 10 points and five boards.
EASTERN MICHIGAN 80, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 68
MIAMI, Fla. (EMUEagles.com) -- Eastern Michigan rode the hot hands of Emoni Bates and Noah Farrakhan as the duo combined for 51 points to help the Eagles grab an 80-68 road victory at Florida International University Wednesday. The Eagles (2-6) halted a six-game slide as the EMU scored 53 second-half points, 40 of which came from Bates and Farrakhan, to turn an eight-point deficit into a 12-point win over the Panthers (4-3).
Bates finished the night with a game-high 26 points, including three treys, to go along with eight boards, leaving him two shy of his consecutive double-doubles, while Farrakhan, who was limited to just four points in the first half, exploded for a season-high 25 points on an 11-of-18 shooting performance. Eastern also saw Tyson Acuff join the duo in double-figure scoring as he added 13 points to go along with six rebounds, four assists, four steals and one block. His steal count doubled his previous career-high of two that he recorded seven times previously.
Kevin David-Rice made his season debut and chipped in seven big points, including a three-pointer that drew the Eagles to within one point in the second half before a Farrakhan jumper gave the Eagles the lead for good one play later.
Overall, the difference in the game came behind a pair of lines. Eastern was 8-of-24 from three and 12-of-14 from the free-throw line while the hosts struggled, hitting just 1-of-15 from behind the arc and 11-of-24 at the charity stripe.
How It Happened
After falling behind, 18-12, Eastern Michigan went on a 5-0 run with 10:06 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from Legend Geeter, to narrow its deficit to 18-17. Florida International answered back and added to its lead, leaving the Eagles down, 35-27, entering halftime. Eastern narrowed its deficit to 56-50 before going on a 7-0 run, finished off by Farrakhan's jumper, to seize a 57-56 lead with 8:26 to go in the contest. The Eagles kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 80-68 win.
MARSHALL 68, AKRON 57
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – For the second consecutive game, freshman Tavari Johnson led the offense as Akron dropped its first true road contest of the season 68-57 to Marshall at the Cam Henderson Center on Wednesday night.
Johnson scored 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the floor, including a 2-of-5 effort from beyond the 3-point arc. He added a team-best four assists, while junior Enrique Freeman posted his fourth double-double of the season. Freeman pulled down a team-high 14 rebounds to go along with 10 points. Senior Trendon Hankerson
added 11 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the floor with one made triple.
Akron (3-4) won the battle of the boards 45-43, and limited Marshall (6-1) to just 68 points as The Herd averages 86.5 points per game. The Zips shot 33.8 percent from the field (24-of-71) and just 20.0 percent from deep (5-of-25), while The Herd drained 41.0 percent of their shots from the floor (25-of-61) and 28.6 percent from long distance (8-of-28).
Marshall started the game on fire, knocking down 4-of-6 shots for a 9-3 advantage by the 15:55 mark. The Heard increased the lead to as many as 16 points (10:22) before taking a 37-25 lead into halftime. The Zips shot 30.3 percent from the field in the opening frame (10-of-33) and only knocked-down two of 10 from downtown. Marshall scored at a 50-percent rate, connecting on 16-of-32 from the field with three trifectas (3-of-13).
Akron made a few more shots in the second stanza and had opportunities to cut the Marshall deficit to five points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half, but the shots did not fall. The Herd used an 8-0 run for a 53-38 with 10:20 left to play in regulation. Marshall led by as many as 18 points in the final two minutes of the game as Akron outscored the home team 8-2 the rest of the way.
Marshall had three players score in double figures as Taevion Kinsey recorded 21 points to lead The Herd. Andrew Taylor and Kamdyn Curfman added 16 and 15 points, respectively. Taylor added a team-best 10 rebounds.
TOLEDO 90, RICHMOND 67
TOLEDO, Ohio – Senior JT Shumate's 20 points led five Rockets in double figures as Toledo posted a dominating 90-67 triumph over Atlantic 10 foe Richmond (3-4) on Wednesday evening. The victory improved Toledo's record in Savage Arena to 3-0 and was the Rockets' second win this season over a 2022 NCAA Tournament squad.
"That's a very good win against a really well-coached Atlantic 10 team," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We played like a together, tough team that responds to adversity. I thought our starters were great from start to finish and that Andre (Lorentsson), EJ (Farmer) and AJ (Edu) gave us some big minutes, especially in the first half."
Toledo (5-2) limited Richmond to a 36.2 shooting mark, while nearly converting half of its shots (49.1 percent, 31-of-63). The Rockets were also efficient from the three-point line (40.9 percent, 9-of-22) and charity stripe (82.6 percent, 18-of-23).
"We played with more discipline defensively tonight," Kowalczyk said. "We stayed down and stayed in front of them better. We also were a plus-14 against a really good rebounding team and that limited their second-chance points."
Joining Shumate in double digits were junior RayJ Dennis (17 pts.), sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. (15 pts.), senior Setric Millner Jr. (13 pts.) and sophomore Ra'Heim Moss (13 pts.).
Moss also shared team rebounding honors with sophomore Andre Lorentsson as each grabbed eight boards apiece. The duo's performance on the glass helped Toledo register a 44-30 rebounding advantage.
Dennis and Maddox each dished out a team-high five assists as the Rockets totaled 19 assists and just nine turnovers in the contest.
Senior Tyler Burton topped the Spiders with 15 points and nine rebounds.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 90, EASTERN ILLINOIS 70
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Five players scored in double figures as Northern Illinois shot 61.7 percent (29-of-47) from the field, including 56 percent (14-of-25) from three-point range, in a 90-70 victory over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night (Nov. 30) at Lantz Arena.
Keshawn Williams led the way with 17 points, Zarique Nutter and David Coit each scored 16 while Kaleb Thornton and Darweshi Hunter both chipped in 10 points.
The Huskies led by six at the break but clamped down defensively after the intermission, holding the Panthers to 36.4 percent shooting (12-of-33) in the second half, including 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from three, on their way to the 20-point victory.
“Our disposition to start the game wasn’t what we needed, especially on the road,” said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. “I didn’t like how we came out, but to our guys credit, we went in with a halftime lead and came out in the first four minutes (of the second half) and played with seven points on a perfect 3-of-3 from the field. Thornton and Coit each recorded five assists in the contest for the Huskies.
Caleb Donaldson was the only player in double figures for Eastern Illinois, he scored 15 points and dished out six assists.
DAYTON 67, WESTERN MICHIGAN 47
DAYTON, Ohio – Western Michigan closed what was an early double-digit deficit to as little as eight in the second half, but ultimately fell, 67-47, at Dayton on Wednesday evening.
Lamar Norman Jr. was Western Michigan’s leading scorer for the sixth consecutive game, as the senior tallied 10 points. In his first start of the season, Tafari Simms added nine points, while JaVaughn Hannah netted eight off of the Bronco bench. Hannah’s eight points helped the WMU bench outscore Dayton’s reserves 16-2. Also in the starting lineup for the first time, Tray Maddox Jr. snared a team-high six rebounds for the evening.
Dayton (4-4) was out of the gates quickly, as the hosts raced out to a 13-1 advantage in the opening six-plus minutes of the contest. The Flyers led by as many as 19 in the opening period, but Western Michigan (2-6) was able to chip away and get back within 12, 34-22, in the final moments of the half. The margin was 37-24 in favor of Dayton at the break.
On the first possession of the second half, Hannah banked in a triple to bring the Broncos to within 10, 37-27. An 8-3 stretch, including an old-fashioned three-point play by Jefferson Monegro, trimmed the gap to 44-36 at the 13:14 mark.
Western Michigan held Dayton without a field goal for more than seven-and-a-half minutes, but the Flyers kept the Broncos from getting any closer than eight by getting to the free throw line. During the field goal drought, UD had eight consecutive points come from the charity stripe.
After a Markeese Hastings jumper drew WMU within eight again, 48-40, the Flyers countered by rattling off seven in a row to extend the margin back into double-digits, and the hosts’ lead remained in double-figures for the remainder of the contest.
Western Michigan struggled from the floor, as it was limited to 17 field goals on 53 attempts (32.1 percent). Dayton connected on 21-of-44 (47.7 percent) from the field. The Broncos kept the Flyers in check from downtown, as UD made just three three-pointers on 16 tries (18.8 percent). Both the three triples and 18.8 percent three-point percentage were season lows allowed by the WMU defense.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 90, EASTERN ILLINOIS 70
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Five players scored in double figures as Northern Illinois shot 61.7 percent (29-of-47) from the field, including 56 percent (14-of-25) from three-point range, in a 90-70 victory over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night at Lantz Arena.
Keshawn Williams led the way with 17 points, Zarique Nutter and David Coit each scored 16 while Kaleb Thornton and Darweshi Hunter both chipped in 10 points.
The Huskies led by six at the break but clamped down defensively after the intermission, holding the Panthers to 36.4 percent shooting (12-of-33) in the second half, including 18.2 percent (2-of-11) from three, on their way to the 20-point victory.
"Our disposition to start the game wasn't what we needed, especially on the road," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "I didn't like how we came out, but to our guys credit, we went in with a halftime lead and came out in the first four minutes (of the second half) and played the right way."
Caleb Donaldson was the only player in double figures for Eastern Illinois. He scored 15 points and dished out six assists.