MAC Tournamnent Central
MAC Tournament Bracket
VIDEO: Buffalo's Will Regan
VIDEO: Buffalo's Tony Watson
VIDEO: Buffalo Press Conference
VIDEO: Ball State Press Conference
Buffalo 76, Ball State 61
Boxscore
CLEVELAND, Ohio- Will Regan scored a career-high 36 points as the University at Buffalo cruised to a 76-61 victory over Ball State in Wednesday's second round of the First Energy Mid-American Conference Tournament at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena.
The eighth-seeded Bulls advance to face fourth-seeded Kent State in a 6:30 p.m. third round on Thursday.
Buffalo seized control with a 15-1 run midway through the second half. Regan scored eight points during the spurt. The 6-foot-8 sophomore's previous career high was 26 points in a 77-67 win over Niagara on Dec. 8.His high game in conference play had been 17 points, ironically coming in a three-point win at Ball State on Jan. 23.
Ball State took a 36-30 lead into halftime on Wednesday thanks in large part to the shooting of Jauwan Scaife, who scored 17 of his team-best 28 points in the first 20 minutes.
Javon McCrea kept Buffalo within striking distance in the first half, offsetting his team's 29-percent shooting (8-for-28) by scoring 12 of his 18 points and grabbing seven of his 11 rebounds by the break.
The Bulls caught fire after halftime, however, shooting 64-percent from both the field (16-for-25) and from the arc (7-for-11) in the final 20 minutes. Ball State, meanwhile, cooled to just 25-percent from both the field (6-for-24) and from three-point range (3-for-12) after the break.
Chris Bond and Majok Majok scored 10 points each for the Cardinals, who fell to 15-15 on the season.
The Bulls improved to 14-19. Two of their losses this season came at the hands of quarterfinal opponent Kent State. The Golden Flashes beat the Bulls 80-68 in Buffalo on Jan. 16, then needed a buzzer beater from Chris Evans to escape with an 83-81 overtime win in Kent on Feb. 27.