Wednesday's MAC Men's Basketball Results

PHILADELPHIA – Temple scored with 0.3 seconds left to escape with an 87-85 win over Buffalo at the Liacouras Center on Wednesday night. It was a frustrating loss for a UB team that shot a season-best 55.2 percent from the field and held the Owls to 36.4 percent shooting.

The Bulls dominated the play inside as Javon McCrea and Mitchell Watt combined to score 50 points. McCrea finished with 28 points on 12-of-16 shooting. 24 of his points came after halftime. Watt scored a career-high 22 points and added nine rebounds and three blocked shots. The Bulls outscored the Owls in the paint, 50-32.

It was close game throughout as an early nine-point UB advantage was the largest by either team all night. Temple never held a lead larger than four points. The game was tied 13 times and there were 13 lead changes.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Dave Barnett, followed by a Watt alley-oop dunk from Jarod Oldham gave the Bulls a 68-62 lead with 4:23 left in regulation, prompting Temple to call timeout. Oldham made a circus layup with 3:09 left to extend the UB lead to seven.

Oldham made a pair of free throws with 2:31 left to give the Bulls a 74-70 lead. That is when the game took an odd turn. After neither team scored for over a minute, the Bulls had possession with 1:22 remaining. Tony Watson was trapped and fouled. However, in the process of fighting for control of the ball, he was whistled for a flagrant foul when he inadvertently elbowed Temple's Juan Fernandez. Watson converted his two free throws, but Temple was awarded two free throws and possession of the ball.

Fernandez made both free throws and later drained a three-pointer to cut the Buffalo lead to 76-75 with 52 seconds left. Following a McCrea layup, Temple's Ramone Moore drained a three-pointer to tie the contest at 78 with 23 seconds left.  Zach Filzen missed an off-balanced jumper at the buzzer and the game went to overtime.

McCrea scored six of the Bulls' seven points in overtime and his layup with one minute left tied the contest at 85. Then the game got flat out strange. Temple's Anthony Lee's layup attempt was blocked off the glass by Watt. However, the shot clock was reset and once the Owls corralled the loose ball they had a chance for a final shot. Khalif Wyatt launched a three-point try in the closing seconds that was off the mark. Watt grabbed the rebound and the Bulls tried to call timeout to set up a final shot. However, the timeout wasn't granted and Lee poked the ball away from Watt and laid it in for the game winner with 0.3 seconds left.

Buffalo dominated many aspects of the game, but were hurt in two key areas – free throw shooting and turnovers. The Bulls made just 15 of 27 free throw attempts and committed 21 turnovers. Temple converted those turnovers into 31 points.

"Turnovers and free throws cost us tonight," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "It comes down to ball handling and poise. We have some really, really good players, but they're not seasoned in that capacity. We've got to be more poised."

Barnett registered his first career double-double with 15 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Oldham had a career-high 11 assists to go along with four points and six rebounds.

Temple did an excellent job locking down Filzen, who was held to just three points - his lowest scoring output since the 2009-10 season.

Buffalo will return to action on Jan. 4 when it hosts Buffalo State at Alumni Arena.

TOLEDO, OH - It was a tale of two halves on Wednesday evening as Toledo (7-6) let a 36-30 halftime lead slip away in a 72-64 home setback to Horizon League foe Cleveland State (12-2).

Junior G Curtis Dennis topped UT offensively with 14 points in addition to grabbing six rebounds. Sophomore F Matt Smith (13 pts.) and sophomore F Reese Holliday (12 pts., team-high nine boards) were also in double figures for the Rockets.

The Vikings put four players in double figures with senior G Trey Harmon leading the way with 14 points. Senior G Jeremy Montgomery added 11 points, including nine in the first five minutes of the second half to ignite a 23-4 CSU run to open the second half.

Toledo held a 35-32 advantage on the boards but was hampered by 18 turnovers, its most since committing 20 in its season opener vs. Texas State. Those miscues helped the Vikings to a 26-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

CSU shot 55.2 percent from the field in the second half and finished the contest with a 46.7 mark. The Rockets converted 45.8 percent of their shots but were hurt by a season-low 57.7 mark from the charity stripe. UT entered the contest with a MAC-best 73.0 percentage.

Toledo fell behind early in the contest by a 15-9 margin but an 11-2 spurt put UT ahead to stay for the remainder of the opening stanza. Dennis tallied five of UT's points during that run and his three-point play put the Rockets up, 20-17, at the 9:32 mark.

Toledo's largest lead of the contest came with just under a minute remaining in the first half when Holliday hit one of two free throws to give the Rockets a 36-28 advantage.

UT returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 3 when it hosts NAIA foe Indiana-Northwest in its final tuneup prior to opening Mid-American Conference action on Saturday, Jan. 7 at Central Michigan.

Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Bowling Green State University men’s basketball team led Duquesne by as many as 12 points in the first half but the Falcons were unable to hold off the Dukes Wednesday night, 86-76.

 

A’uston Calhoun scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting and Scott Thomas added 20 points but Duquesne forced the Falcons into 18 turnovers. With a three-pointer early in the game, Thomas became the 38th player in program history to score 1,000 career points. He finished the game with 1,018 points which ranks 37th in school history.

The game was played at Duquesne’s pace but Bowling Green used a 17-1 run in the first half to take a 29-17 lead. The Falcons still led 32-21 but the Dukes closed the half on a 13-1 run of their own to take a 45-39 advantage into the break.

 

Duquesne scored on its first possession of the second half but Bowling Green got a Cam Black tip-in followed by a Dee Brown three-pointer to get back within three. After Duquesne’s B.J. Monteiro scored on a lay-up, Calhoun had a pair of baskets followed by another Black tip-in to give the Falcons a 50-49 lead.

 

Bowling Green’s last lead came a minute later when Brown knocked down a jumper for a 52-51 lead. The Dukes, though, used a 13-3 spurt to take a 64-55 lead with 12 minutes remaining. The Falcons never got closer than six the rest of the way.

 

For the Falcons, offense was not a problem throughout. The team shot 54 percent from the field and made 7-of-18 three-pointers, led by Thomas’ four. Bowling Green also held a 37-23 rebounding advantage, including 11-8 on the offensive glass, but the Falcons’ 18 turnovers undid much of the positive. Duquesne had just seven turnovers and it was only the second time this year that Bowling Green had more turnovers than its opponent.

 

Duquesne shot 53 percent from the field and made 7-of-20 three-pointers. B.J. Monteiro led the way with a career high 28 points, while T.J. Monteiro added 20 points and six assists.

 

Dee Brown added 12 points for Bowling Green and Chauncey Orr came off the bench for a career-high seven points. Torian Oglesby did not score but tied Calhoun for team-high honors with eight rebounds.

 

Duquesne improves to 8-5 with the win and Bowling Green falls to 6-6. The Falcons will close out pre-conference play on New Year’s Day at Texas San Antonio with a tip-time set for 3 p.m.