Central Michigan 92, Bowling Green 82
Eastern Michigan 66, Buffalo 62
Northern Illinois 66, Toledo 61
Western Michigan 64, Miami 60
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BG's Justin Turner exploded for 31 points, while Dallas Morgan poured in 29 and David DiLeo added 26 for the victorious Chippewas. It was the third straight victory for CMU, which snapped the Falcons eight-game winning streak.
The Falcons had more two field goals hit 50 percent from the field overall. However, Central owned five more treys and went 24-of-26 at the free throw line. The Falcons hit 15-of-17 at the stripe.
Eastern Michigan 66, Buffalo 62
After losing its first seven MAC outings, EMU registered its second consecutive win with a 66-62 victory over hosting Buffalo. It was the Eagles first win over Buffalo since 2016.
EMU built up a 35-30 halftime advantage and held off UB over the final 20 minutes.
Ty Groce paced EMU with 14, followed by Thomas Binelli and Darion Spottsville with 11 apiece. None of the Bulls starters reached double figures. Josh Mballa led the hosts with 16 ppoints, followed by Gabe Grant's 10.
Northern Illinois 66, Toledo 61
NIU ran its winning streak to five games with a road win at Toledo. The Rockets, meanwhile, fell to their fourth straight loss.
Eugene German hit 50 percent from the field and beyond the arc, adding 8-of-9 free throws for a game-high 25 points. Darius Beane was the only other Huskie in double figures (11).
Toledo put four players in double figures, with Willie Jackson and Luke Knapke sharing team-high honors (15 points). However, the Rockets did not get any points off from the bench, while NIU counted 10 points from its bench.
Western Michigan 64, Miami 60
Brandon Johnson scored 17 of his game-high 21 points in the second half to lead Western Michigan past Miami. Michael Flowers added 16 as WMU broke a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in its last eight outings.
Miami, which got just less than seven minutes from leading scorer Nike Sibande after an early injury, dropped its seventh of nine MAC contests. Freshman Dae Dae Grant led the RedHawks with 20 points, while Precious Ayah and Milos Jovic came off the bench to contribute 10 apiece.
MU led at the break 28-26 despite not shooting a free throw. The RedHawks got 19 charity tosses in the second half but hit just eight (42.1%). Western made 22-of-30 free throws on the night.
Ball State 62, Kent State 54
By EVAN MEYER
KENT, OHIO – Senior Kyle Mallers scored 16 points, nine of them coming at the start of the second half, as the Ball State Cardinals defeated the Kent State Golden Flashes 62-54 Tuesday night at the MAC Center.
Ball State (13-9, 5-4) collected its fourth road win of the season (4-4), second in MAC play (2-3), and first road win over Kent State since 1999.
“A big road win for us.” Cardinals head coach James Whitford said. “Give credit to our freshman, who came up big late in the first half.”
Senior Tahjai Teague notched12 points and 17 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season and third in the last four games. Redshirt freshman Jerrod Coleman added 11 with five rebounds and five assists.
Meanwhile, Kent State (16-7, 6-4) saw its three-game winning streak come to an end as it absorbed a home loss for just the second time this season.
“This was a tough loss.” KSU head man Rob Senderoff said. “Give Ball State a lot of credit tonight. You just cannot win going 1-of-20 from the three point line and 7-of-15 from the foul line. We have never shot this poorly all season.”
Senior Phillip Whittington led all scorers in the contest with 18 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore Anthony Roberts added 12 with two rebounds and three assists.
The opening 20 minutes were marked by a pair of long runs.
After BSU opened a 5-2 lead at the 18:37 mark on a driving layup by Coleman, KSU went on 17-2 run to open a 12-point lead – its largest of the game -- at the 10:38 mark on a layup by Antonio Willaims, who scored just seven points in the game.
From that point on, the Cardinals started to take control of the game outscoring the Flashes 28-9.
Their key run was led by freshman Miyrne Thomas. He scored just seven points. However, midway through the period he connected on a pair of treys from both sides of the arc to give the Cards momentum.
KSU still held the lead until the 2:35 mark of the period when Coleman connected on a three from the top of the key. That lifted BSU in front at 28-27, and the visitors never trailed again.
Ball State built its largest lead of the half with a 7-1 spurt, led by Teague who hit a layup and then a three-pointer from the top of the circle to give the Cardinals a seven point edge at intermission, 35-28.
When asked about the play of his star, Whitford said “He has been Player of the Week five times this season and should be in the talk for Player of the Year.”
Neither team shot the ball well in the opening half. BSU went 13-of-34 (38.2 percent) and KSU was 12-of-28 (42.9). The home team held a slim 20-18 rebounding edge.
Mallers, who spent most of the first half on the bench with three personal fouls, helped the Cardinals come out flying after intermission. He scored the Cardinals first nine points on a pair of threes and three charity tosses after getting fouled. After he made all three, BSU owned a 44-33 lead with 16:34 remaining.
The home team closed the gap to five 59-54 on a short jumper by Roberts at the 2:29 mark, but that was as close at Kent State could get.
NOTES:
● BSU took the victory despite going 6-of-24 in the second from the field and 19-of-58 for the game (32.8) KSU was 11-of-32 in the second half and 23-of-60 (38.3 for the contest however they missed all 10 of their shots from beyond the arc in the second half.
● KSU won the battle of the boards, 44-40.
● The Flashes scored 30 points in the paint to 18 for BSU. However the Cardinals bench had 18 points -- a majority of which came in the decisive part of the first half -- to just four for the Flashes
● Both teams get back to action this weekend, BSU travels to Western Michigan to battle the Broncos while KSU travels to Northern Illinois to battle the Huskies.