Saturday's MAC Men's Basketball Results

Eastern Michigan 51, Ball State 48

Western Michigan 74, Toledo 52

Akron 68, Ohio 63

Northern Illinois 74, Central Michigan 66

Miami 52, Buffalo 51

Kent State 92, Bowling Green 87

MUNCIE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team took a Mid-American Conference road tilt at Ball State University, Saturday Jan. 14. Eagles' senior Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Robichaud) hit a three-point bucket with just 1.5 seconds on the clock to give EMU the 51-48 victory moving them to 7-10 (2-1 MAC) on the season.

Quintin Dailey (Las Vegas, Nev.-Bishop Gorman-Sheridan (Wyo.) J.C.) led the Eagles' offense with 13 points while Green chipped-in with 11 points of his own. Austin Harper (Grand Haven, Mich.-Grand Haven-Glen Oaks C.C.) notched nine points, while Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) was the catalyst on the boards, caroming eight to lead Eastern. EMU used a 57.9 shooting percentage in the second half to give them their second MAC win of the season.

Despite losing the opening tip the Eagles were able to jump out to an early 4-0 lead on a pair of two-point buckets by Harris and Darrell Lampley (Linden, N.J.-Linden-Lakeland C.C.). The first 10 minutes of the opening half proved to be a struggle offensively for both teams as they combined for just 14 points, with EMU leading 8-6.

Eastern was able to extend their lead to seven, 13-6, with an Green three-pointer. The Cardinals clawed back to within one, 13-12, on a dunk by Jarrod Jones. BSU took the lead, 14-13, on the ensuing possession when Chris Bond knocked down a pair from the charity stripe. The Cardinals did not stop pushing on offense, picking up a seven-point edge, 20-13, with just under five minutes to go in the first half.

Harper broke a five minute scoring drought at the 4:31 mark with a layup to bring the Green and White to within five points, 20-15. The Eagles and Cardinals traded buckets through the remainder of the half, with BSU leading 27-21 at the break.

Offensively, Eastern struggled, shooting eight-of-21 from the floor in the first half with Harper and Dailey  leading the way with six points apiece. EMU spread the wealth on the glass as eight Eagles shared the teams 12 total rebound in the opening half. Eastern was able to hold the Cardinals to a 39.1 shooting percentage, including keeping them scoreless from beyond the arc, going 0-for-6. The difference in the opening half was the free throw shooting for the Cardinals. Ball State was able to convert nine free ones, while the Eagles were given just four shots from the charity stripe.

Da'Shonte Riley (Detroit, Mich.-Detroit Country Day-Syracuse) opened up the second half scoring, cutting the deficit to four, 27-23 on an inside post move and Harris brought Eastern to within two, 27-25, on a put-back dunk with 17:15 remaining. The Cardinals would respond with their first three-point bucket of the game, extending their lead to 30-25. After the Eagles cut the lead to three, Randy Davis hit his second consecutive three-ball giving BSU a 33-27 edge.

Eastern went on a 5-0 run to bring them within three, 35-32 after Harper knocked down a trey and Green hit a mid-range jumper. EMU and Ball State swapped buckets back and forth through most of the second half as the Eagles trailed 42-36 with 6:44 remaining in the game. Dailey was able to cut the Cardinal lead to four, 45-41 with a tip-in, prompting J.R. Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Snider) to hit a pair of free throws making it 45-43.

The Cardinals took a five point edge, but Dailey's three-point stroke put Eastern down just two, 48-46. Dailey was able to even things up with a pair of free ones, making it 48-48 with a minute and a half to play.

Ball State took a timeout with 42.4 seconds left in play, but Eastern's stingy defense held the Cardinals scoreless in their final possession, setting EMU up with the final play of the game.  Green hit a three-ball with just 1.5 seconds remaining to give the Eagles a 51-48 win.

The Eagles continue their Mid-American Conference schedule Wednesday, Jan. 18, when they play host to in-state rival Western Michigan. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center at Eastern Michigan University.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - The Western Michigan men's basketball team put together two dominant halves of basketball, and the Broncos maintained their perfect home record in 2011-12 with a 74-52 win over the Toledo Rockets at University Arena. With the victory, the Broncos improve to 8-9 overall, 2-1 in Mid-American Conference play. 

The Broncos were in control of most major categories, including a stifling 48-24 rebounding advantage and holding the Rockets to a 35.7 shooting percentage. The Broncos were especially effective in holding down the long-range attack; Toledo shot just 15.0 percent from three-point range, less than half of their season average entering the game.

Conversely, the Broncos showed a diversified, balanced attack, shooting 49.2 percent from the field. Flenard Whitfield had his best game since returning to the line-up against Ball State; he shot an impressive 8-of-11 from the field for a game-high 19 points in just 22 minutes of play. Whitfield also recorded six rebounds and three blocks, the first of which came early in the first half and showed he was not slowed by his previous ankle injury.

Matt Stainbrook recorded his second double-double of the season and the seventh of his career, scoring 13 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. He finished with six assists, just four short of his first career triple-double. The Broncos recorded 18 assists as a team, compared to just five for Toledo; Demetrius Ward led the way with eight dimes.

The Broncos took a while to get going in the first half, but once they did they completely controlled the tempo. WMU trailed 6-2 at the first media timeout, but Whitfield drew a foul in the paint to spark a run for the Broncos. After forcing a turnover on the defensive end, Douglas drove to the hoop for a lay up at the 15:41 mark to cut Toledo's lead to 6-5. 

The Rockets' Rian Pearson countered with a 12-footer at 15:13, but it would be the last points the Broncos would allow for a long time. Whitfield would hit a turnaround jumper to cut Toledo's lead to 8-7, and the Broncos took the lead for good when Hayden Hoerdemann drained a three-pointer from the right wing, making it 10-8 with 12:19 remaining in the half. All told, the scoring was part of a 20-4 Western Michigan run, with the Broncos holding the Rockets without a point for a 5:21 stretch in the half.

Stainbrook would establish his presence late in the first half, taking over the game-high in points with just one eight-minute stretch. Stainbrook scored 11 points in the final 8:22 of the first half, going 5-of-7 from the field in that span. Stainbrook tacked on the final point of the half when he drew a foul under the hoop with 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock and made a subsequent free throw.

The Broncos kept the pressure on in the second half, attacking the paint against the Rockets with a healthy dose of Whitfield. Whitfield shot 6-of-6 in the second half for 14 points, and was part of the Broncos' effort to out-score the Rockets 24-10 in the paint in the second half. The closest Toledo would get in the second half was at the 14:45 mark, when Dominique Buckley hit a jumper to make it 41-33. However, Stainbrook would kick a pass out of a double-team to Hoerdemann, who buried a three to give the Broncos an 11-point lead. 

The Broncos would hold Toledo to just nine points over the next two media timeouts, outscoring the Rockets 24-9 during a 7:53 span in the second half. Whitfield made a pair of free throws give extend WMU's lead to 66-40 with 6:42 remaining in the game to cap the run, and the Broncos would expand the lead to as many as 29 points when Nate Hutcheson made a three from just beyond the head of the key at the 4:54 mark. The Broncos would clear the bench for the rest of the game, running down the clock and taking the game 74-52.

AKRON, Ohio – Nikola Cvetinovic converted a pair of foul shots with two seconds remaining to secure a 68-63 victory for Akron over visiting Ohio on Saturday in a Mid-American Conference contest at Rhodes Arena before an ESPNU audience.

The win kept the Zips (11-6, 3-0 MAC) atop the league's East Division standings and was their fourth-straight victory and eighth in nine outings. UA is the only undefeated team in conference play to date. It marks Akron's fifth 3-0 start since joining the MAC in 1992 and the first since the 2007-08 season (4-0).

Zeke Marshall led all scorers with 17 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field and made 7-of-11 from the free throw line. Nick Harney and Brett McClanahan chipped in with 10 points each for the Zips who are 7-1 at home this season.

D.J. Cooper led Ohio (13-4, 1-2 MAC) with 13 points.

With the OU lead seesawed between one and four points, Marshall tied the game at 55-all with 5:18 on the clock. Alex Abreu hit his only 3-pointer of the day to give Akron a 59-57 lead it would not relinquish with 3:58 to go.

The Zips closed the game by pushing their lead to as much as seven points over the final four minutes to seal the victory.

Marshall's block with 8:59 left in the game was his third of the game and the 200th of his career. Only eight players, including Marshall, have recorded 200 blocked shots for their career in MAC history.

Akron had a brief lead to open the second half (31-30) thanks to a pair of free throws by Marshall (19:47) before the Bobcats regained the lead. The OU lead grew to 40-35 at the 15:19 mark before UA began chipping away at the advantage.

Both teams played it close over the first ten minutes of the game, with Ohio leading most of the way. However, a defensive board by Cvetinovic led to a fastbreak layup by Diggs to tie the game at 15-15 with 10:29 left in the half.

After the Bobcats pushed their lead back to four points (19-15), Cvetinovic tied the game at 19-19 at the 4:35 mark. Walsh gave the Zips their first lead of the game (21-19) at the charity stripe with the clock stopped at the 3:18 mark.

The lead changed hands several times over the final three minutes before OU's Nick Kellogg hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send Ohio into halftime with a 30-29 lead.

Harney led all players with seven points in the half, adding two rebounds and a steal in nine minutes. Walsh and Marshall had five points each.

Akron held Ohio to just 39.3 percent shooting from the floor (11-of-28) while shooting 50.0 percent (8-of-16) as a team. The Zips held a 15-12 rebounding advantage, but committed nine turnovers to the Bobcats' six.

The Zips head to Buffalo, N.Y., to face the Bulls on Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air locally on TimeWarner Cable SportsNet and online at www.mac-sports.com.

DEKALB, Ill. -- Behind 55 percent shooting from the field, including 63.2 percent behind the three-point arc, the Northern Illinois men’s basketball team defeated Central Michigan, 74-66, on Saturday afternoon at the NIU Convocation Center. Freshman wing Abdel Nader (Skokie, Ill./Niles North) led the Huskies with a career-high 22 points, including 5-of-5 from behind the arc. 

Freshman guard Stian Berg (Baerum, Norway/Norges Toppidretts Gymnas) also had a career-high with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from three-point range. Sophomore guard Aksel Bolin (Asker, Norway/Asker) added a season-best 13 points and a game-high eight rebounds.

“We took a defensive mindset in this game,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “Thank goodness for Abdel, coming out with his guns loaded. He got us started and that became contagious, Stian picked it up. I thought our defensive was amazing. When the ball goes in your defense picks up but we held them to 37 percent and we outrebounded them by 17, so there was a lot of good basketball today.”

The Huskies outrebounded the Chippewas 39-22 in the contest, marking the seventh-straight game NIU has beaten its opponent on the glass, and converted 11 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points, to just five second chance points for CMU. NIU’s 74 points and 12 three-point field goals made are both season-highs 

“Congratulations to Coach Montgomery and his staff,” said CMU head Coach Ernie Zeigler. “Their last couple of games, you could see how close them were. They are a young group; you could tell they are coachable and trying to do what their coaches are asking. Coach Montgomery is doing a heckuva job. Nader had a career game. You’ve got to give them credit, they knocked down shots.”

Nader fueled the Huskie offense in the early going, scoring the first 13 NIU points, including four triples. 

The fourth of Nader’s trifectas sparked a 10-0 run as redshirt sophomore Antone Christian (Nashville, Tenn./Martin Luther King Magnet) and Berg added threes while Bolin made a free throw as the Huskies took a 20-12 lead with just under 12 minutes to play in the first half. 

With NIU leading by seven, 26-19, Central Michigan buried back-to-back triples to cut the Huskie lead to just one, 26-25, with six minutes left before the break. 

Northern Illinois answered with the next 15 points, taking a 41-25 lead into the final minute of the half. Berg connected on a pair of threes and Nader registered his fifth triple of the half during the run. CMU made a pair of free throws to trim the Huskie lead to 41-27 at the intermission. 

Nader led all scorers with 16 at the break, helping the Huskies to 58.3 percent shooting (14-of-24) in the opening 20 minutes, including 10-of-14 (71.4 percent) beyond the arc. Derek Jackson led the Chippewas with 10 points in the opening stanza. 

NIU maintained a lead of a dozen or more early in the second half until Austin McBroom made a three to cut the Huskie lead to 51-40 with 14:13 to play, but buckets by Nader and Bolin pushed the NIU advantage right back to 15. 

Still leading by 15 with under three minutes to play, McBroom six-straight to cut the NIU lead to single-digits, 64-55, for the first time in the second half. 

The Chippewas would trim the Huskie lead to as few as six in the final minutes, 70-64, but NIU made 9-of-10 free throws in the final minute of the contest, seven by Bolin, to secure the win. 

Trey Zeigler finished with a team-high 18 points for Central Michigan, who suffered its first conference loss of the season, Jackson added 16 points and McBroom finished with 15 for CMU. 

NIU will return to the road on Wednesday, Jan. 18, when the Huskies travel to Toledo to play the Rockets. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.

OXFORD, Ohio--In a thrilling, back-and-forth game Saturday night at Millett Hall, the Miami University men's basketball team won, 52-51, giving the RedHawks their first MAC win of the season. Freshman guard Brian Sullivan led the way with 17 points. 

Sophomore guard Quinten Rollins chipped in 13 points, while sophomore center Drew McGhee added 11 for Miami (5-10, 1-2). Javon McCrea and Mitchell Watt reached double figures for the Bulls (8-6, 1-2) with 16 and 15 points, respectively. Watt also pulled down 10 rebounds. 

Sullivan got things started with a layup a minute into the game and then, after back-to-back jumpers by Buffalo's McCrea, Sullivan knocked down a trey to give Miami a 5-4 lead. 

The back-and-forth nature of the opening minutes continued through the entire first half, as neither team held a lead greater than two until Buffalo grabbed a three-point lead with 34 seconds remaining. In total, Miami held the lead six times and Buffalo was in front 11 times. The RedHawks and the Bulls were tied up seven times in the opening half. 

The 11 first-half points for Sullivan marked the sixth time this season that he has reached double-digits in scoring, with three of those instances coming in his last four games. 

McCrea opened the second half with a basket to extend Buffalo's lead to five, but four points from McGhee and another 3-pointer from Sullivan countered a Buffalo trey and brought Miami back within one, making the score 31-30 with 15:31 left in the half. The points from McGhee and Sullivan were the catalyst for a 13-3 Miami scoring run that gave the RedHawks a 36-31 lead with 12:55 remaining in the half. 

Buffalo answered quickly with four points of its own to come within one, and eventually regained the lead with 7:07 left in the game. Neither team pulled away from the other, and the score remained tied with 3:26 remaining, 47-47. Senior forward Julian Mavunga nailed a free throw 40 seconds later to give the RedHawks a one-point lead, and then sophomore forward Jon Harris drilled his first and only shot of the game, a dagger of a 3-pointer to put Miami ahead by four. 

After each team made a trip to the charity stripe, the score became 52-49 with eight seconds left, giving Buffalo with one last opportunity. The Bulls could only manage an off-balance attempt to tie in the final seconds, getting an inconsequential tip-in at the buzzer to make the final score 52-51. 

Playing shorthanded, three Miami players played all 40 minutes: Sullivan (career-high), Mavunga and Rollins. But Miami held Buffalo, which averaged nearly 76 points per game, to just one 3-pointer on the night and forced 21 turnovers. Miami also capitalized on those mistakes, scoring 20 points off Buffalo miscues. 

Miami's next game is Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Bowling Green at Millett Hall. 

KENT, Ohio – Kent State (12-4; 2-1 MAC) held off a second half surge by Bowling Green (7-9; 1-2) to earn a 92-87 Mid-American Conference win in front of a energetic M.A.C. Center crowd on Saturday night.  The Golden Flashes extended their home winning streak to six straight after building up an 18-point halftime advantage then holding off a 60-point Falcon outburst in the second half.  

Senior forward Justin Greene (Brooklyn, N.Y.) scored his season high totaling 23 points for the second straight game as four Kent State players scored at least 14 points in the highest scoring MAC game of the season.  The 92 points by the Golden Flashes are also the most by the team against a MAC opponent since the 2006 season in a 111-107 overtime win at Buffalo (Feb. 15, 2006)

The high scoring outburst by Kent State seemed almost unimaginable in the early going as the team shot only 2-10 form the field and trailed 15-7 just five minutes into the game.  The Golden Flashes would awaken from there however as they quickly caught fire making eight of their next 11 shots to spark a 17-2 run over the next six minutes. The six-minute spurt was all part of Kent State’s highest scoring first half of the year as the team went into intermission up 45-27.  

The Falcons did not go away easily in the second half however. After a back-and-forth first seven minutes following the break, Kent State’s lead increased to as many as 19 points on a jumper by freshman Devareaux Manley (Oakland, Calif.) with 12:34 left to play.  Bowling Green then needed only three and a half minutes to slice the margin all the way down to six (61-55) on a lay-up by Craig Sealey with 8:56 left. The Falcons comeback and 60-point second half explosion was helped by the three-ball where they managed to make 9-17 (52.9%) after the break.  

The two teams would then trade baskets the next seven minutes or so until Kent State started pulling away at the free throw line where senior guard Michael Porrini (Massillon, Ohio) eventually pushed the margin back to 11 with a pair at 1:19.  Bowling Green kept chipping away and closed to within four in the final 10 seconds before one more free throw by senior guard Carlton Guyton (Chicago, Ill.) sealed the win.  

Porrini finished with a season best 19 points while adding six rebounds. Junior guard Randal Holt (Cleveland, Ohio) added 17 points and junior forward Chris Evans (Chesapeake, Va.) totaled 14, including four dunks that brought the M.A.C. Center crowd to their feet.  Guyton, the 2010-11 MAC Sixth Man of the Year, dished out 10 assists for the potent Kent State offense. 

Bowling Green was led by forward Scott Thomas who paced the Falcons with 23 points 

Kent State returns to action next Wednesday as travel to Athens to take on Ohio.