TOLEDO 93, UAB 85
BOWLING GREEN 87, OAKLAND 82
MISSISSIPPI STATE 73, AKRON 54
NORTHWESTERN 63 NORTHREN ILLINOIS 46
DETROIT, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- Emoni Bates made his Eagles debut and totaled 30 points, but Eastern Michigan fell to the No. 22 University of Michigan Wolverines, 88-83, in non-conference action at Little Caesars Arena Friday, Nov. 11.
The Eagles (1-1) had three players score in double figures, led by Bates. Noah Farrakhan added 19 points and six rebounds and Tyson Acuff helped out with 10 points and four assists.
After falling behind, 36-35, Eastern Michigan went on a 5-0 run with 2:17 left in the first half, culminating in a three from Bates, to take a 40-36 lead. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 45-42 advantage.
Eastern Michigan took advantage of three offensive rebounds to score seven second-chance points out of 45 total in the period. Michigan then erased the Eastern Michigan lead in the game's final quarter for an 88-83 comeback victory.
TOLEDO 93, UAB 85
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team registered a statement win on Friday night with a 93-85 victory over Conference USA favorite UAB in the Barstool Sports Invitational. The contest was played at the Wells Fargo Center, home of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers.
The Rockets' veteran trio of junior RayJ Dennis, senior Setric Millner Jr. and senior JT Shumate combined for 64 points in the victory. Dennis tied his career high for a second-straight game with 23 points and dished out a team-high seven assists, while Millner and Shumate tallied 21 and 20 points, respectively. Shumate was named Barstool's Pizza Hut Game MVP.
Junior Tyler Cochran also scored in double digits, finishing with 13 points along with a team-high seven rebounds.
Cochran also grabbed a team-high four steals to spearhead a Rockets' defensive effort that forced UAB into 22 turnovers and limited the Blazers to a 35.3 shooting mark in the second half.
Toledo trailed by a 46-39 margin at halftime after falling behind by as many as 11 points less than seven minutes into the contest.
Jordan 'Jelly' Walker paced UAB offensively with 25 points but was 9-of-23 from the field.
BOWLING GREEN 87, OAKLAND 82
BOWLING GREEN, OH -- The Bowling Green State University men's basketball program picked up a 101-60 win over the Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops on Friday night (Nov. 12). The win pushes the Falcons to 1-0 on the season when playing on Bill Frack Court at the Stroh Center and grants the Orange and Brown their first win of the 2021-22 season, now 1-1. It was an all-around team effort that earned the win, seeing six different players reach double-digit scoring in the contest.
The Falcons came out strong, jumping to a 12-point lead, 17-5, less than four minutes into the game. The Falcons continued to push themselves on both sides of the ball, reaching a 20-point lead before the halfway point of the first half.
Out of halftime, the Falcons continued adding to the lead, eclipsing the 30-point-lead mark less than three minutes into the second half thanks to a coast-to-coast layup from Brenton Mills.
Over the next 10 minutes of game time, Bowling Green used a 23-7 run to add to their lead, growing to a 46-point advantage with over seven minutes remaining. The Falcons maintained that lead for the rest of the game, having a game-high 46-point lead as late into the game as 45 seconds remaining.
MISSISSIPPI STATE 73, AKRON 54
Philadelphia, Pa. – The Akron men's basketball team could not overcome an explosive offensive outburst by Mississippi State as the Bulldogs pulled away for a 73-54 win at the inaugural Barstool Sports Invitational at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday night.
Senior Xavier Castaneda (Chicago, Ill.) led the Zips' offense with 20 points and six assists while emerging as Akron's only double figure scorer. Junior Enrique Freeman (Cleveland, Ohio) and sophomore Garvin Clarke (Nassau, Bahamas) added nine and eight points, respectively.
The Bulldogs (2-0) size and length seemed to give the Zips (1-1) trouble as Mississippi State controlled the battle of the boards, 43-25. Despite the lopsided numbers on the glass, The Akron defense recorded 10 first-half takeaways and only committed four turnovers to keep the game close.
After the break, Akron used a 12-3 run to take a 39-38 lead at the 15:08 mark. Junior transfer Sammy Hunter started the run with a three-pointer from the corner and Castaneda contributed five points with a long-range jumper and a pair of free throws. Junior Greg Tribble (Cincinnati, Ohio) added a spin moved and layin from the paint and Freeman capped the run with a strong post move. Mississippi State responded with a run of their own, draining 7 of 9 shots with three consecutive 3-point field goals to take a 61-47 lead to the 7:34 mark. The Bulldogs continued to have a hot hand, eventually pushing the lead to as many as 20 points.
Tolu Smith led Mississippi State with 26 points and eight rebounds, while D.J. Jeffries registered 15 points. The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 52.7 percent from the field (29 of 55), including a 50.0 percent effort from deep (7 of 14). The Bulldogs finished the game with 14 turnovers.
NORTHWESTERN 63 NORTHERN ILLINOIS 46
EVANSTON, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team was within five with just over 10 minutes to play but a late Northwestern run helped the Wildcats to a 63-46 victory over the Huskies on Friday night (Nov. 11) at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Keshawn Williams scored a game-high 19 points to pace the Huskies.
David Coit added nine points while Zarique Nutter chipped in seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
After Northwestern went in front by a half-dozen, 14-8, Williams answered with the next five to pull the Huskies back within one. Williams converted an old-fashioned three-point play before connecting on a floater to cut the Wildcat lead to 14-13 with just under 14 minutes to play in the opening half.
Northwestern's lead grew back to eight, 21-13, until a three-point play from Coit and a layup from Williams brought NIU back to within three, 21-18, with 8:37 left in the first half.
The Wildcats used a 7-0 burst to lead, 30-19, with a little over four minutes left in the opening 20 minutes. Nutter ended the run with a basket for the Huskies and sparked an 8-2 response from NIU as the Huskies trimmed the Northwestern lead back to five, 32-27. Williams scored the other six points for NIU during the run.
Northwestern scored the final four points of the half as the Wildcats took a 36-27 lead into the intermission.
Trailing 48-38, Xavier Amos scored five-straight to cut the Northwestern advantage to just five, 48-43, with 10:49 remaining, forcing a Wildcat timeout.
Northwestern answered with the next 10 as the Wildcat lead grew to 58-43 with a little over six minutes left.
Beran finished with a team-high 15 points for the Wildcats. Boo Buie scored 13 points and Ty Berry finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Northwestern held NIU to just 6-of-28 shooting (21.4 percent) in the second half.