Wednesday's MAC Men's Basketball Postseason Results
Buffalo 78, American 61
Oakland 86, Bowling Green 69
Buffalo 78, American 61
Boxscore
WASHINGTON, DC – The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team defeated American, 78-61, in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament at Bender Arena on Wednesday night. It was the Bulls’ 20th win of the season, giving UB back-to-back 20-win seasons and four in the past eight years.
The Bulls had a lethal combination of inside and outside scoring. Javon McCrea and Mitchell Watt dominated the play inside, scoring 18 and 15 points, respectively. Zach Filzen countered with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.
Buffalo broke open a close game midway through the first half with a 16-0 scoring run to turn an 18-15 lead into a 34-15 advantage. The Bulls were very active defensively with six of their 10 steals in the first half. Jarod Oldham and Filzen each had three steals for UB.
“I thought we were pretty locked in defensively,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon. “I just think our guys communicated very well. This is a team that wants to stretch you out, so we did a good job of staying locked in.”
American (20-12) began to heat up from beyond the arc and following consecutive three- pointers, Buffalo’s lead was just 39-34 early in the second half. However, Filzen hit consecutive treys of his own and McCrea followed with a foul-line jumper to extend the lead to 47-36.
After American cut the lead to 47-38, the Bulls responded with an 11-2 scoring run, capped by a Watt jumper to extend their lead to 18. The lead would remain in double digits the rest of the way.
Buffalo got contributions from a number of different players and 10 different players scored. The Bulls shot 52 percent from the field. They dominated play inside, outscoring the Eagles, 38-22, in the paint. Buffalo was also good in transition with 14 fast break points.
Watt added a game-high nine rebounds to go along with his 15 points. McCrea scored his 18 points in only 19 minutes. Oldham had six assists to go with his four points, four rebounds and three steals. Tony Watson chipped in with six points on two three-pointers and added four assists.
Defensively, the Bulls held American to 34 percent shooting. Coming into the game, the Eagles were shooting over 40 percent from three to ranked 10th in the nation. UB limited them to just 7-of-27 shooting from beyond the arc.
Buffalo handed American just its second home loss in 15 games this season.
The Bulls will await their opponent for the next round of the CIT.
Oakland 86, Bowling Green 69
Boxscore
Rochester, Mich. – Bowling Green’s first trip to the postseason in three years ended in the first round of the CollegeInsider.com First Round, as Oakland defeated the Falcons 86-69 Wednesday night.
Oakland’s Reggie Hamilton scored a CIT record 39 points, 28 in the second half, as the Grizzlies overcame a three-point second half deficit to run away late. Hamilton entered the game as the nation’s leading scorer and did not disappoint.
Bowling Green contained the sharp-shooting guard to 11 points in the first half and the Falcons scored the first eight of the second half to take a 39-36 lead. Hamilton scored his first two points of the second half on a pair of free-throws with 16:06 remaining to tie the score at 42-42 and he gave his team the lead for good on a three-pointer 64 seconds later.
The Falcons stuck close and trailed by just four points on a Dee Brown lay-up with 9:30 to play but the Grizzlies used an 18-5 run over the next 4:31 to put the game away. Hamilton scored 15 of Oakland’s points during that stretch. Bowling Green never got closer than 13 the rest of the way.
Oakland made 12-of-24 three-pointers on the evening, getting a 5-of-6 effort from Hamilton and 4-of-9 from Travis Bader, who ended with 21 points. The Falcons were just 3-of-20 from long range.
Both teams made 28-of-59 shots (47.5 percent) for the game but the Grizzlies made nine more three-pointers and eight more free-throws, going 18-of-21. Oakland got those extra attempts with a 39-28 rebounding advantage, including 13 offensive boards. Both teams had just nine turnovers.
Jordon Crawford directed a solid offensive effort by the Falcons, finishing with 21 points and five assists, making 7-of-13 field goals. A’uston Calhoun had 15 points and seven boards and Scott Thomas closed out his career with 11 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Dee Brown also finished his career with 10 points and three rebounds.
Bowling Green scored the first four points of the game and the two teams traded leads throughout the first half. Cam Black completed a three-point play with 1:03 to go in the opening half that tied the score at 31-31 but the Grizzlies scored the final five points to take a 36-31 lead into the break. Oakland outscored the Falcons 50-38 in the second half.
BGSU held a 34-26 edge in points in the paint and held a 16-11 advantage in points off of turnovers.
Oakland improves to 18-15 and will host Toledo Saturday at 2 p.m. in the second round of the CIT. Bowling Green ends the year with a record of 16-16.