MAC Quarterfinal Action Hits The Q!

• Kent State heads into the Mid-American Conference Tournament as the fourth seed and will begin play in the quarterfinals at 7:00 pm on Thursday against Western Michigan. Kent State is paced offensively by senior forward Justin Greene who ranked fourth in the league averaging 15.4 points per game against MAC competition.  Just a year ago he averaged 16.3 points & 10.0 rebounds in three games while leading the team into the championship game. Including the MAC Tournament, Kent State has won 30 straight games against MAC West opponents.  The last loss was a 56-51 defeat at Toledo on Feb. 2, 2008... The Western Michigan men’s basketball team used a 17-1 run in the second half to build a huge lead, and the Broncos defeated the Northern Illinois Huskies 71-54 in the second round of the 2012 First Energy MAC Tournament in Cleveland on Wednesday. With the win, the Broncos improve to 14-19 on the season, and will face the fourth-seeded Kent State Golden Flashes in the quarterfinal game on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Mike Douglas would be named the Player of the Game with his 19-point performance, and senior Demetrius Ward would score 13 points to become the 36th member of the 1,000-Point Club at Western Michigan.

• The No. 3-seeded Ohio Bobcats begin play at the 2012 Mid-American Conference Tournament on Thursday evening when they take on No. 7 Toledo at 9:30 p.m from Quicken Loans Arena. The Green & White are 11-16 all-time in quarterfinal games and have only advanced out of this round once since 2005. D.J. Cooper broke the all-time assists mark against Kent State last week, a record that had stood since 1990 (Dennis Whitaker, 651). The junior also owns Ohio’s top two single-season marks (263 in 10-11, 218 in 2009-10) and led the league in helpers the past two seasons. He currently ranks 26th in the nation with an average of 5.6 per contest...No. 7 seed Toledo pulled out a 75-72 triumph over the Chippewas in a second-round Mid-American Conference Tournament contest at Quicken Loans Arena. Sophomore G Rian Pearson dominated the paint for the Rockets, registered his third straight double-double and 10th of the season with a game-high 20 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman G Julius Brown tallied 18 points and a team-high five assists for UT, while Holliday contributed 12 points and nine boards.