Ball State 65, Georgia Tech 47
Buffalo 82, Canisius 73
Western Michigan 84, Aquinas College 61
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Miami RedHawks (5-6) fell at No. 3 Louisville on Wednesday by 70-46 margin, despite hanging with the Cardinals for the majority of the game.
Mekhi Lairy led the Miami offense with 10 points while Dae Dae Grant led the squad with eight boards.
Nike Sibande opened scoring for the RedHawks with a three-pointer, answering a three from Louisville within the first minute of the game.
Miami answered the Cardinals' next basket to tie the game at five before three-straight baskets by Louisville forced a RedHawk timeout. The score was 11-5 in favor of the home team with 14:16 to play in the first half.
Though the RedHawks defense held the Cardinals without a basket for nearly two minutes, Louisville scored the next four points to open up a 15-5 lead with 11:49 remaining in the first half. Isaiah Coleman-Lands ended Miami's scoring drought with a basket after 12-straight points from Louisville as the Cardinals held a 19-7 lead midway through the first half.
Mekhi Lairy scored on back-to-back possessions, one of his shots being a three-pointer, as Miami trailed 21-12 at the media timeout with seven to play before halftime.
The RedHawks outscored the Cardinals 8-7 in the final seven minutes of the half to close the gap to 28-20 going into the locker room. Precious Ayah had two of the Miami baskets to close the half.
Dae Dae Grant opened the second half with a three-pointer. The RedHawks scored the first five points of the half as Sibande found Dalonte Brown for a dunk to cut Louisville's lead down to three points.
Two more baskets from Grant put his second-half total at seven points and kept the Cardinals' lead at four. Louisville scored on back-to-back possessions to force a Miami timeout with 14:41 to play, facing a 37-29 deficit.
Miami cut Louisville's lead back down to four points before two baskets from the Cardinals gave them a nine-point lead. Lairy hit his third shot of the game as the RedHawks trailed 42-35 with 12 minutes remaining in the contest.
Following a three-pointer by Josh Brewer to take Louisville's lead down to four points once again, the Cardinals went on an 8-0 run to take a 52-40 lead with just under eight minutes to play. Louisville extended its run to 17-0 to take a commanding 61-40 lead with less than four minutes remaining.
A three-pointer from Lairy broke the RedHawks' scoring drought to become the first Miami player in double figures on the evening. Louisville went on a 9-0 run before Elijah McNamara capped scoring for the game with a three-point shot
ATLANTA -- Ball State is enjoying its visits to ACC venues lately.
The Cardinals’ last road game against the league was a buzzer-beating win over a top-10 Notre Dame team two years ago. This one was not that close.
Ball State led by as many as 30 points Wednesday night at McCamish Pavilion and rolled to a 65-47 victory over Georgia Tech.
That 10-hour flight from Atlanta to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic might not seem quite so long now.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys,” Ball State head coach James Whitford said. “I thought we really played our best game of the year, obviously, by far, both sides of the ball.”
It was the second straight game Whitford uttered that kind of sentiment. The last time was 11 days ago, Ball State’s last game before final exams, a 48-point thrashing of IUPUI. And while the eighth-year BSU head man certainly liked his team’s chances Wednesday night, even he probably didn’t imagine a similarly dominant performance to that one.
Redshirt freshman Jarron Coleman poured in 17 points and handed out four assists with only one turnover. Kyle Mallers scored 11 points and Brachen Hazen added 10. That trio combined for eight of Ball State’s 10 3-pointers on the night.
Tahjai Teague added nine points and tied his career high with six assists, while the Cardinals also got a boost from the return of senior guard K.J. Walton who missed the previous four games with an ankle injury.
But this game was as much about what the undersized Cardinals were able to do defensively, limiting Georgia Tech to 33 percent shooting (23 percent in the first half) and forcing 24 turnovers. BSU held the Yellow Jackets’ leading scorer Michael Devoe eight below his average with just 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting.
“Jarron Coleman was terrific tonight as the point guard for us,” Whitford said. “I thought he really played well. I though Tahjai Teague really defended well.”
Ball State shot and passed its way through the Georgia Tech zone, steering clear of one of the nation’s top shot blockers James Banks III and building a 31-15 lead at the half. The Yellow Jackets committed 16 first-half turnovers and made only five shots from the floor.
They dialed up some full-court pressure in the second half and trimmed the lead to 12, but the Cardinals figured it out. A 15-2 run, with back-to-back 3’s from Coleman and Teague at the heart of it, put BSU in complete control. A tough Mallers lay-in with 2:35 to play gave the Cardinals their biggest lead at 65-35.
“We’re small compared to them, but we’re very skilled in the frontcourt,” Whitford said. “We can shoot 3’s from the four and the five. We were able to get them out of their zone; we’re a hard team to zone because we shoot a lot of 3’s.”
BUFFALO, NY - Senior Davonta Jordan scored a career high 26 points as the Bulls held on to defeat Big 4 rival Canisius on Wednesday night, 82-73. The Bulls improved to 7-4 with the victory.
The visiting Griffs raced out to an 8-2 lead as Scott Hitchon had a big night for Canisius, scoring 17 of its first 20 points. Four quick points for Buffalo pulled the Bulls within two but then neither team scored for two minutes prior to a Golden Griffin free throw. It was another minute of no scoring, but then the Bulls got hot, scoring 14 straight points to take a 20-9 lead. The run was capped off by Jordan, who picked up a steal and converted on the fast-break layup, converting the old-fashioned three-point play.
Canisius cut the lead to 26-22 before the Bulls went on a 10-4 run as a three from Jordan put the Bulls ahead 36-26. A layup from junior David Nickelberry right before the break gave the Bulls a 40-29 lead into the half.
The Bulls lead 47-38 when a three-pointer from sophomore Ronaldo Segu ignited a quick 7-0 run, giving the Bulls their largest lead of the night at 54-38. UB held multiple leads of 16 points, but were unable to extend it past that number.
Buffalo continued to lead 70-55 with 7:27 left when the visiting Griffs made a late run. An 18-5 run for Canisius pulled them within a single possession with 1:45 left as they trailed just 75-73. However, it would be the final points for Canisius as the Bulls closed the game out strong.
Jordan converted on a tough jumper with 1:20 left and following a missed Canisius shot, sophomore Jeenathan Williams knocked down one of the biggest shots of his young career, a triple with just 39 seconds remaining. Two late free throws from Segu gave the Bulls the nine-point win.
"A hard fought game," said head coach Jim Whitesell. "I thought at times were really good defensively, but we had some gaps. Give Canisius credit they came back and bothered us with a few different looks, but these games are always played that way between two local rivals."
Jordan led four players in double figures with his career-best 26 points as he also tied a career-high with nine rebounds. Jordan was 11-of-17 from the floor and 3-for-7 from three. He added four assists and two steals.
Segu finished with 14 points, five rebounds, and two assists off the bench, while Williams had 12 points and four rebounds. The Rochester, NY native went 5-of-7 from the floor and 2-for-3 from three-point range.
The Bulls got great minutes from their two big men on the night as sophomore Josh Mballa had 11 points, nine rebounds, two assists and two steals and redshirt freshman LaQuill Hardnett had the best game of his young career as well. He finished with nine points and a career-high 11 rebounds, leading all players. Both Hardnett and Mballa had six offensive boards.
As a team, the Bulls finished with 50 rebounds, the second time in three games they have had 50 or more boards. They finished with 21 offensive boards, turning that into 18 second chance points. UB held a big advantage in the paint, 44-26.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Heading into the holiday break, the Western Michigan Broncos will be riding a three-game win streak after an 84-61 victory over Aquinas College on Wednesday night inside University Arena.
After its last two contests coming down to the wire with final second goal-ahead shots, WMU never trailed against Aquinas and led by as many as 24 en route to the victory. The Broncos also shot a staggering 59.1 percent from the field with 44 points coming in the paint.
The Broncos were once again led by the duo of junior Michael Flowers and redshirt junior Brandon Johnson who combined to score 31 points. Flowers led all scorers with 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field with three from long distance. Flowers has now scored in double figures in each of the last 15 games dating back to last season.
Behind Flowers was Johnson with 15 points along with four rebounds and two assists. Johnson in 24 minutes of action was 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. The Chicago, Ill., native has recorded double digit points in each of the last five games.
The leading scorer off the bench for the Broncos was sophomore Adrian Martin with a career-high 10 points in 16 minutes of action. Martin was 4-of-6 from the field against the Saints and 2-of-3 from beyond the three-point line. The Sugar Hill, Ga., native also corralled two rebounds to go along with two assists and one steal.
Freshman Chase Barrs led the Broncos on the glass, registering six rebounds to go along with eight points and two blocks. Fellow freshman Titus Wright also registered eight points against the Saints and had four rebounds and two assists. Rounding out the freshman trio was B.Artis White who pulled down a career-high five rebounds while scoring seven points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field.
Overall 10 of the 13 players that saw the court on Wednesday scored while all but two players didn’t record a rebound. WMU narrowly outrebounded Aquinas 36-30 and forced the Saints to commit 15 turnovers, scoring 14 points off those turnovers.
With its third straight victory Western Michigan improves its overall record to 7-5. The Broncos will have a little over a week off for the holidays before returning to the court on Sunday, Dec. 29 against nationally-ranked Michigan State.
It was a fast start for the Broncos who made four of their first five field goals to take a 12-6 advantage at the 15-minute mark of the first half. WMU propelled its lead to 17-10 after four straight points from junior Rafael Cruz Jr., and extended its lead to double-digits at 22-11 after a three-pointer from Flowers.
However, Aquinas responded at the midway point of the first half and made five of its next seven field goals to cut the Bronco lead down to 25-17 at the 7:40 mark. WMU extended its lead back to double-digits just 35 seconds later after back-to-back three’s from Martin. The Broncos ended the half connecting on seven of their final nine field goals for a 48-30 lead at half. The 18-point advantage is the largest lead at halftime for the Broncos this season.
To begin the second half, the Brown & Gold extended its lead to 20 points after B. Artis White knocked down his only three of the night to propel the Broncos in front, 52-32. Western Michigan continued its stellar shooting in the second half and made five of its next seven field goals to hold a 59-45 lead with 12:30 remaining.
Aquinas battled its way back and cut its deficit down to 10 after a corner three-pointer with 7:31 remaining. Out of a media timeout the Bronco offense roared back, embarking on a 13-3 run to push its lead to 21 with 5:43 remaining.
Down the stretch after Aquinas cut its deficit down to 10, Western Michigan outscored the Saints 20-7 the final seven minutes of play to secure its seventh win of the season.