MAC Madness in Full Effect! Monday's Tournament Results

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men’s basketball team used a balanced attack to erase a first half deficit, keeping the pressure on Ball State in the second half as the Broncos beat the Cardinals 69-63 in the first round of the 2012 First Energy MAC Tournament.  With the win, the Broncos improve to 13-19 on the season, and will face the Northern Illinois Huskies in the second round of the tournament, played at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

 

The Broncos’ had five players score in double figures, led by senior forward Flenard Whitfield with 12 points.  Mike Douglas added just five points, but what important points they were; Douglas went 5 of 6 from the free throw line in the final two minutes of play to keep the Cardinals at arm’s length in the waning moments.  BSU’s Jarrod Jones cut the Broncos’ lead to just two points with 33 seconds remaining, but Douglas would add four straight free throws to up the Broncos’ lead to six points with 19 seconds remaining, a lead they would ultimately maintain for the win.

 

The Broncos overcame an early-game surge from the Cardinals in the first half, battling against an early deficit to take the lead entering half.  The Broncos trailed by as many as nine points on two occasions, the first coming at the 13:40 mark of the first half when Jesse Berry scored on a lay-up to give BSU a 13-4 lead.  The nine-point lead would stand until the 12:34 mark, when Dan Loney tipped in an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to 15-7.  Shayne Whittington would make a pair of free throws at the 11:50 mark to cut the lead to seven points, and would throw down a two-handed dunk at the 11:28 mark to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 15-12.  

 

After chipping away slowly, the Broncos took the lead for the first time when Demetrius Ward hit Austin Richie streaking to the hoop for an easy lay-up at the 7:45 mark, giving WMU a 20-19 lead.  Ward would knock down a three from the right wing to stretch the lead to four points, and the Broncos would eventually take a five-point lead in the final two minutes of the half.  Richie would step in front of a Jesse Berry pass and take it the other way, finding Matt Stainbrook under the hoop for a fast break lay-up to make it 31-26.  

 

Dan Loney preserved the five-point lead with a short jumper after taking a pass from Stainbrook, but the Cardinals’ Berry scored on a mid-range jumper to cut the Broncos’ lead to 33-30 at the break.  The Broncos would extend that lead to nine points at the 17:44 mark of the second half when Richie scored on a fast break lay-up to make it 39-30 and force the Cardinals to burn a timeout.  

 

WMU reached its biggest lead of the night on the backs of their big men; Whittington grabbed an offensive rebound at the 14:04 mark and tipped it in to give the Broncos a 43-35 lead, and Stainbrook would score just 33 seconds later to give the Broncos their first double-digit lead of the night.

 

The Cardinals would push back, however, and tie the score at 45-45 when Jones scored on a lay-up in the paint.  The Broncos didn’t roll over, however, and re-took the lead on a Stainbrook tip-in at the 9:08 mark.  Demetrius Ward knocked down a three from the right corner to extend the lead to five points, and the Broncos were able to give themselves a comfortable cushion en route to the victory. 

YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Junior guard Tony Nixon (South Holland, Ill./Seton Academy) scored a game-high 14 points as the Northern Illinois men’s basketball team defeated Eastern Michigan 55-52 on Monday night at the EMU Convocation Center to advance to the Second Round of the FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Tournament. 

The victory snapped a nine-game conference tournament losing streak for the Huskies and was NIU’s first road win of the season. 

“I thought our defense was very good in the first half, maybe the best it has been all season,” said NIU head coach Mark Montgomery. “We were rebounding the ball, we were scraping. We only mustard up 18 (first half points) but we were controlling the tempo and maybe they got a little frustrated. You have to credit our guys for being resilient, it has been a tough year but our guys kept competing in practice, they kept working, they kept the faith, they stayed positive and now a day like this lets you really enjoy all of that hard work.”

NIU shot 48.7 percent (19-of-39) in the contest, including 9-of-21 (42.9 percent) from behind the three-point arc, while holding Eastern Michigan to just 34 percent (16-of-47) shooting. The Huskies had 16 assists on their 19 made field goals, including career-best seven assists from freshman guard Marquavese Ford (Saginaw, Mich./Saginaw).

The Huskies held Eastern Michigan without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes, but were unable to capitalize as they held a 5-1 lead midway through the first half. 

Leading by a pair, 5-3, NIU used a 10-2 burst to take a 15-5 lead with 6:45 to play in the opening half. Nixon opened the spurt with a free throw, sophomore forward Aksel Bolin (Asker, Norway/Akser) and Ford added baskets before a triple from senior forward Tyler Storm (Geneseo, Ill./Geneseo) and a corner jumper by Nixon ended the run

Eastern Michigan pulled within five, 15-10, until the triple by freshman guard Stian Berg (Baerum, Norway/Norges Toppidretts Gymnas) pushed the NIU lead to eight, 18-10, with a minute to play before the break. 

The Eagles split a pair of free throws to close the first half, cutting the NIU lead to 18-11. Bolin led all scorers with five in the first half. The Huskies shot 41.2 percent (7-of-17) in the opening 20 minutes, but committed 10 turnovers. NIU held Eastern Michigan to just 13.6 percent (3-of-22) shooting in the first stanza. 

The NIU lead grew to nine, 28-19, on a pair of free throws by Nixon, but Eastern Michigan responded with a 12-1 run to take a 31-29 lead with 11:40 remaining. 

The Huskies answered with the next eight as freshman forward Kevin Gray (Chicago, Ill./Brooks Academy) finished at the rim and redshirt sophomore Antone Christian (Nashville, Tenn./Martin Luther King Magnet) and Berg connected on back-to-back trifectas, giving NIU a 37-31 lead with just over eight minutes left. 

NIU and Eastern Michigan traded a series or triples, with six consecutive Huskie field goals coming from behind the three-point arc, capped by a Bolin three to give NIU a 49-44 lead with 2:50 left. 

Bolin finished with 13 points, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc.

The Eagles pulled within a point, 49-48, but a scooping layup by Nixon pushed the Huskie lead back to three as the clock ticked under a minute. 

Bolin and Berg each made a pair from the charity stripe, pushing the NIU lead to six with 18 seconds to play. 

After a triple by Eastern Michigan Derek Thompson cut the lead in half, the Huskies went to the line, shooting a one-and-one with seven seconds left. 

The first NIU free throw was missed and the Eagles got just beyond half-court where Jamell Harris fired up a desperation three-point attempt. Harris’ attempt drew iron but bounced out and the Huskies survived to advance to Cleveland. 

NIU will meet Western Michigan in the Second Round of the FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Wednesday, March 7 at 7 p.m. ET.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio – Central Michigan was able to celebrate twice as an official review confirmed that Bowling Green's final field goal came after the buzzer, giving the Chippewas a 54-53 win in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.

Derek Jackson's fourth three-pointer of the night gave the 11th-seeded Chippewas (11-20) a 51-50 lead with 1:47 to play and they were able to hold off five more surges by the sixth-seeded Falcons (16-15).

Torian Oglesby missed a layup with a second left, got his own rebound and put the ball back in. The Chippewas' celebration was cut short as both teams were called back to their benches while the officials reviewed the play, but the CMU bench erupted again several minutes later when officials called off the final shot.

The win propels Central to Cleveland for a second-round game against Toledo Wednesday evening.

The Chippewas found themselves in a 9-0 hole in the first five minutes before they stormed back to tie the game in the next 2:10. Austin McBroom hit a three-pointer for the Chippewas' first bucket and scored seven of the team's points in the 9-0 run. His jumper with just under nine minutes to play in the half stopped six straight points by the Falcons as he accounted for nine of the Chippewas' first 11 points. Back-to-back three-pointers by Derek Jackson and three stops by the defense brought CMU within two, 19-17 at the 5:30 mark.

McBroom and Jackson combined for 15 of Central's 20 first-half points as the Chippewas were down six at halftime.

The Falcons opened another nine-point lead within the first four minutes of the second half, but the Chippewas responded with a 13-3 run to take their first lead of the game, 37-36, at 11:08.

McBroom finished with a career-high 20 points and a team-best six assists, and Jackson added 12 points, all from long range.

TOLEDO, OH – Toledo (17-15) punched its ticket to Cleveland on Monday evening with a 60-53 victory over Miami (9-21) in the first round of the 2012 Mid-American Conference Tournament. The No. 7 seed Rockets will meet No. 11 seed Central Michigan on Wednesday, March 7 at 9:30 p.m. in Quicken Loans Arena.

Sophomore G Rian Pearson provided Rocket fans with another spectacular performance, registering a game-high 21 points and 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. Junior F Matt Smith also was in double figures with 12 points in addition to grabbing eight boards.

Toledo dominated the RedHawks on the glass, 39-28, thanks to the boardwork from Pearson, Smith and sophomore F Reese Holliday (4 pts., 8 rebounds). 

Miami was led by junior C Drew McGhee’s career-high 16 points and eight rebounds. UT limited the MAC’s leading scorer and rebounder, senior F Julian Mavunga, to 12 points and six boards.

The RedHawks started the game quickly, taking a 9-3 lead in the first five minutes before UT whittled away to tie the contest at 15-15. Toledo couldn’t pull ahead though until an eight-point spurt to end the half gave the Rockets a 32-24 advantage.

The Rockets carried that momentum into the second half and stretched their lead into double digits, 41-30, less than four minutes into the second stanza. UT appeared to be on its way to a comfortable victory when freshman G Julius Brown’s layup gave Toledo its largest lead of the evening, 49-33, with 11:16 to play. Miami answered though with a 20-3 run capped off by three straight treys to take a 53-52 advantage with 5:35 remaining.

Those points were the last the visitors would score as Pearson quickly restored UT’s advantage on its next possession and junior G Dominique Buckley (seven pts., game-high four steals) and Holliday scored with 3:31 and 1:49 to play, respectively, for a five-point cushion. Junior G Curtis Dennis accounted for the Rockets’ final two points with a pair of free throws at the one-minute mark.