Saturday's MAC Men's Basketball Results

BUFFALO, NY –Mitchell Watt scored a career-high 28 points to help lead the University at Buffalo men's basketball team to an 84-74 win over Miami (OH) at Alumni Arena on Saturday afternoon. The Bulls shot a sizzling 67 percent in the second half to erase a five-point deficit and put and end to their three-game losing skid.

Buffalo (17-9, 10-4) had to overcome a hot-shooting Miami squad that shot 51.9 percent from the field. After missing their first four three-point attempts, Miami connected on six triples in a row to build a 31-25 lead with 3:39 left in the half. The Bulls battled back and closed the half on an 8-2 scoring run to knot the game at 33 at the break.

Miami (9-18, 5-9 MAC) stayed hot early in the second half, making five of their first six shots from the field and built a 45-40 lead. The Bulls chipped away and a layup and free throw by Javon McCrea tied the contest at 51. The Bulls then began to heat up from long range. UB connected on three straight three-pointers. Zach Filzen, followed by Dave Barnett and Filzen again gave the Bulls a 60-53 lead with 9:20 left.

After Miami closed the lead to 63-60 with 6:05 left, Filzen connected from long range again to extend the UB lead to six. Oldham followed with a three of his own to put the Bulls ahead, 69-60, with 3:54 remaining.

Buffalo got back to what does best to defeat the RedHawks. The Bulls outrebounded Miami, 36-28. The Bulls pulled down 12 offensive rebounds and outscored Miami, 17-1, in second chance points.  Buffalo also committed a season-low seven turnovers.

Watt shot 11-of-16 from the field and 6-of-7 from the free throw line. The senior forward added five rebounds, four assists, three blocks and a steal. Filzen scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half. Javon McCrea also reached double figures with 12 points.

Jarod Oldham finished with 10 assists, one shy of his career high to go along with six points and a pair of steals. Barnett had eight points, six rebounds and three assists in 15 minutes of action.

"[Miami] shot it as well as anyone has shot it against us all year long," head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We still persevered. I thought we got into a rhythm in the second half offensively and moved the ball well. It was good to see us get a little bit of a spark back."

Buffalo will next play at first-place Akron on Wednesday night.

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — It was only appropriate that two seniors would lead the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team here Saturday, Feb. 25, on Senior Night in the Convocation Center.

Senior guards Darrell Lampley (Linden, N.J.-Linden-Lakeland C.C.) and Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Dearborn Heights Robichaud) scored 13 and 10 points respectively to lead EMU to a 61-50 win over Ball State University in a Mid-American Conference West Division game.

With the win, Head Coach Rob Murphy's Eagles improve to 8-6 in the MAC and 13-16 overall and have earned at least a share of the 2011-12 MAC West Division title.  EMU's win over Ball State, coupled with Toledo's win over Western Michigan Saturday, Feb. 25, gives the Eagles a two-game lead over both Western and Toledo, both at 6-8, and assures the Green and White of at least a share of the West Division title.  EMU plays at Western Michigan Wednesday, Feb. 29, and at Toledo Saturday, March 3. If EMU wins one of those two contests, or if Toledo and WMU lose one of their final two games, the Eagles will win the title outright.

Ball State falls to 13-14 overall and 4-10 in MAC play.

In addition to Lampley and Green, Eastern redshirt sophomore guard J.R. Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Snider) had nine points,  junior forward Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) added eight points with six rebounds and junior guard Derek Thompson (Detroit, Mich.-Melvindale-SEMO) added eight points.

Ball State was led by Jarrod Jones with 14 points while Tyrae Robinson scored five points with 10 assists and Tyler Koch added nine points.

Eastern finished the game shooting 36.2 percent from the field, making 17-of-47 attempts, but followed up a poor 25 percent first-half shooting effort with a 50 percent second-half output.  EMU also managed to control the backboards, recording a 33-23 advantage.  Eastern also shot a blistering 87 percent from the free throw stripe, making 20-of-23 attempts.

Ball State shot 47.6 percent for the game, making 20-of-42 shots, but the Cardinals made just 4-of-11 free throws for 36.4 percent.

Ball State opened the game with a quick five points before Lampley halted that streak on a jumper.

The Cardinals would build their advantage to seven, 19-12, with 3:35 on the clock, but Eastern would go to the long ball, with two straight threes, from Green and Sims to pull the Eagles within two, 22-20, with 1:34 left.

That 22-20 score would stand as the teams headed to intermission.

The Eagles would hit just 25 percent of their field goals in the first half, making 7-of-27 while Ball State was making 45 percent, hitting 9-of-20.  Despite the rough first-half shooting effort, the Eagles managed to out-rebound the Cardinals, 17-14.

Ball State would open the second half on a dunk by Jones and EMU would answer with two straight alley-opp dunks by Harris on passes from Lampley to tie the score at 24-all.

The Eagles would make it a 9-0 run after a two-point goal by Green and a three from Sims, putting EMU up, 29-24, with 17:04 left.

EMU would once again go to the alley-opp combination of Lampley to Harris to stake a 10-point lead, 43-33, with 10:13 left in the game.

Ball State would come back to cut it to three, 43-40, with 7:55 left on a three by Tyler Koch, but the Eagles would come back to boost their lead to 10, 54-44, on two Lampley free throws with 2:05 left.

The Cardinals' Koch would hit another three to cut the deficit to seven, 54-47, with 1:43 left and once again, the Eagles answered with free throws to boost their lead to 11, 58-47, with 54 seconds left and went on to post the 11-point win, 61-50, to sweep the two-game series with the Cardinals this season.

The Eagles will now go on the road for their final two regular-season games of the year.  Eastern is slated to play at Western Michigan Wednesday, Feb. 29, and then close out with a Saturday, March 3, afternoon tilt at Toledo.

Bowling Green, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team shot 54 percent from the field as the Falcons rolled to a 74-58 win over Kent State Saturday night in the Stroh Center. Scott Thomas scored 21 points, making 6-of-10 three-pointers, while A'uston Calhoun added 17 points, 14 in the second half. Torian Oglesby came off the bench for 15 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.

With the win, Bowling Green improves to 15-13 overall and 8-6 in Mid-American Conference play. The 15 victories represents the most since the 2008-09 team went 19-14 and the eight MAC wins equal last year's total.

The Falcons took a 38-32 lead into the break and never trailed in the second half, leading by at least three points throughout the final 20 minutes.

Thomas, who has made 14 three-pointers in the past two home games, scored 15 points in the first half and led the Falcon offense after leading scorer Calhoun went to the bench with two fouls after just six minutes. Thomas made four three-pointers during the period and helped Bowling Green battle back from an early five-point deficit.

Kent State led 12-7 when Thomas made his first three-ball and kick-started a 7-0 run. Over the next few minutes, the teams took turns grabbing short-lived leads until Thomas made another three and Dee Brown scored on a fastbreak lay-up to give the Falcons a 25-18 lead.

Kent State answered with seven straight points to tie the game at 25-25 with 8:31 to go but Jordon Crawford's three-pointer with 7:36 to go gave the Falcons the lead for good. Bowling Green took a six-point lead into the break.

The Golden Flashes tried to edge back into the contest on numerous occasions throughout the second half, closing to within three twice. After Randal Holt scored from long range to make it 51-48, Torian Oglesby scored on a fastbreak alley-oop and Thomas followed with a three-ball to make it 56-48.

Chris Evans' lay-up with 7:11 to play got Kent State within six but Oglesby finished a traditional three-point play and then had a dunk that gave Bowling Green a 67-56 lead with 6:09 to go. The Golden Flashes' Carlton Guyton scored on a lay-up with 5:29 to play but Kent State did not score the rest of the way as Bowling Green put the game away with defense.

Kent State shot 55 percent in the first half to stay close but Bowling Green clamped down in the final 20 minutes, holding the Golden Flashes to only 40 percent shooting and 1-of-9 three-pointers. Kent State had 21 turnovers for the game, 16 in the first half, and BGSU had 14 steals, three each from Cam Black and Craig Sealey. The Bowling Green bench, led by Oglesby and Sealey, outscored Kent State's bench 21-4. The Falcons also had a 31-28 rebounding edge.

Kent State falls to 19-9 overall and 9-5 in MAC play. With the win, Bowling Green is now just one game behind the Golden Flashes in the league standings for a chance at a bye to the MAC Tournament quarterfinals. The Falcons will look to inch closer Wednesday when the team hosts Miami at 7 p.m. for Senior Night.

TOLEDO, OH – Toledo moved into a second-place tie in the MAC’s West Division on Saturday evening with an 83-74 triumph over Western Michigan in front of a season-high 5,108 fans in Savage Arena. The Rockets (15-14, 6-8 MAC), who committed a season-low five turnovers (one in the second half), utilized a balanced scoring attack with five players scoring in double figures to earn the victory.

UT and WMU (12-17, 6-8 MAC) trail West leader Eastern Michigan (13-16, 8-6 MAC) by two games in the division standings. The Eagles will visit the Broncos on Wednesday, Feb. 29 before coming to Savage Arena for the 2:00 p.m. regular-season finale on Saturday, March 3. The Rockets will play at Northern Illinois on Wednesday prior to their contest vs. EMU.

Junior G Dominique Buckley topped UT offensively with 16 points and five assists and was joined in double figures by sophomore G Rian Pearson (15 pts., team-high 8 reb.), sophomore F Matt Smith (15 pts., 6 reb.), freshman G Julius Brown (14 pts., team-high seven asst.) and junior G Curtis Dennis (10 pts.).

Senior F Flenard Whitfield led four WMU players in double figures with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Both teams came out on fire offensively as UT took a 44-41 halftime lead thanks to a 58.6 first-half shooting mark. The Broncos were nearly as hot, converting 56.7 percent of their shot attempts.

Toledo appeared ready to take control of the contest when it scored 10 straight points for a 59-45 advantage with 14:38 to play. UT maintained a comfortable cushion for the next 10 minutes until the Broncos reeled off 11 unanswered points to climb within a point, 72-71, with 2:48 to play.

Brown and sophomore F Reese Holliday (nine points) responded with a pair of baskets to give the Rockets a 76-71 lead with 1:48 left. Following a Bronco free throw, Pearson nailed a pair from the charity stripe for a 78-72 edge with 58 ticks showing on the clock. Brown sealed the contest by knocking down two more free throws.

Toledo finished the game with a 48.4 FG%, including 47.4 percent (9-of-19) from behind the three-point arc. Western Michigan shot 49.2 percent but was just five-of-17 (29.4 percent) from long distance.