Bowling Green 74, Akron 59
Toledo 65, Miami 57
Ohio 73, Western Michigan 61
Ball State 63, Northern Illinois 59
Ty Groce scored 22 points and hit 6-of-7 free throws to lead Eastern Michigan past Central Michigan 73-70.
Both teams had 19 free throw opportunities. EMU converted 15, while Central made 12. That proved to be pivotal in a tight contest.
The Eagles had more field goals overall (26-22), but CMU knocked down 14-of-30 treys (46.7%). Eastern was good on 6-of-18 (33.3%) from long distance.
Boubacar Toure registered a double-double with 20 points and 13 caroms, while Thomas Binelli added 15 for the Eagles.
David DiLeo hit all six of his charity tosses on the way to a game-high 24 points to pace CMU. Travon Bradley (17)and Deschon Winston (10) also reached double figures.
Central owned a 35-28 lead at the half, but Eastern Michigan pulled even at 42-all on a Boubacar dunk. The Chippewas briefly edged ahead but EMU pulled back in front and owned a 10-point lead (67-57) with just 1:14 left.
DiLeo scored 12 points in the final 48 seconds, but the Chippewas came up short.
Toledo 65, Miami 57
Marreon Jackson scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Toledo broke a five-game losing streak with a 65-57 win over Miami. It was the RedHawks fourth straight defeat.
MU held a 32-28 halftime lead, but Toledo bolted out to a 14-1 run when play resumed and held off Miami's late challenge.
Joining Jackson in double figures for Toledo were Willie Jackson (11 points, 16 rebounds) and Keshaun Sanders (11 points).
Toledo had just one more field goal overall (22-21) but three less treys as Miami made 9-of-31 (29%) from beyond the arc. A key difference was at the charity stripe where MU hit 6-of-16 (37.5%), while UT connected on 15-of-25 (60%).
Ohio 73, Western Michigan 61
The Bobcats earned back-to-back wins for the first time since early December with a 73-61 win over Western Michigan Tuesday at the Convocation Center. Ohio's victory broke a two-game WMU win streak.
Coming off a triple-double against Miami Saturday, sophomore guard Jason Preston tallied 21-points. He also had 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Ben Vander Plas contributed 19 points and nine boards, while Jordan Dartis had 15 points and six steals for the victorious Bobcats.
Western's Michael Flowers shared game-high honors with 21 points and Rafael Cruz Jr. came off the bench to add 10 points.
Western Michigan committed 19 turnovers to nine for the hosts. Ohio also doubled up the Broncos at the line, cashing in on 18 charity tosses to nine for WMU, which hit 9-of-11.
Ball State 63, Northern Illinois 59
Ishmael El-Amin scored a game-high 22 points as Ball State ended NIU's six-game win streak with a 63-59 decision that pulled the Cardinals within one-half game of first place in the MAC West.
Tahjai Teague and Kyle Mallers joined El-Amin in double figures with 12 apiece.
Eugene German led the Huskies with 18 points, while Zaire Mateen and Tyler Cochran came off the bench to add 10 apiece.
Although NIU had six more field goals, the Cardinals registered two more triples and 14 morefree throws.
Ball State went 19-for-27 (70.4%) at the stripe. NIU was 5-of-11.
Bowling Green 74, Akron 59
By EVAN MEYER
AKRON, OHIO – In a battle of the top two teams in the Mid-American Conference Eastern Division the Akron Zips defeated the Bowling Green Falcons 74-59 Tuesday night at Rhodes Arena.
With the victory, Akron (18-6, 8-3 MAC) pulled to within one half game of BGSU for the lead In the Eastern Division, as well as improved its overall record to 12-2 at home.
“It was a complete game (for us) in the last little while.” Zips head coach John Groce said. “Our guys were really locked in and execution standpoint. We played motivated tonight.”
Junior Loren Christen Jackson led all scorers in the contest with 28 points, going 9-of-17 from the field and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Fellow Junior Tyler Cheese was the other Zips player in double figures with 17 points.
Bowling Green (18-7, 9-3) lost for just the third time in conference play
Redshirt junior Daquwon Plowden led BGSU with18 points and 10 rebounds -- his eighth double-double of the season. Junior Justin Turner added 12 with three assists.
The game started out cautiously with both teams exchanging the lead through the first 15 minutes. Akron finally took the lead for good at the 6:07 mark when Cristen Jackson connected on a driving layup.
When asked about his performance, Cristen Jackson said “It was a big victory, but this is where we had expected to be. ... Last season we were not a team. However, this year we are a team.”
At the start of the second period, Bowling Green scored the first six points on an and-one from freshman Davin Ziegler and a 3-pointer from the top of the key by Tayler Mattos.
Senior Xeyrius Williams' layup on UA's next possession shifted momentum back to the Blue and Gold
Slowly but steadily, UA started to pull away from the Orange and Brown opening its largest lead of the game 66-54 when senior Channel Banks connected on one of two free throws.
The lead stretched out to 15 on two occasions, including the final margin on a layup by Cristen Jackson.
The victory was UA’s 12th straight win at home over the Falcons
NOTES:
● UA shot 50 percent in the second half (12-of-24) finishing the game at 42.9 percent (24-of-52), while BGSU went 24-of-67 (11-of-32 in the second half).
● The Zips won the battle of the boards 40-35
● UA won the battle inside the paint 34-32
● Both teams return to action this weekend with UA starting a stretch of four games in five on the road Friday night at Central Michigan while BGSU heads to Ball State on Saturday to play the Cardinals.