Walker's Big Second Half Leads Kent Over Oregon State
Wednesday’s Scoreboard
Kent State 79, Oregon State 78
Northern Illinois 69, UIC 63
Bowling Green 81, Green Bay 78
DePaul 83, Miami 66
Texas A&M 89, Buffalo 73
Stories Courtesy of the Associated Press
Kent State 79, Oregon State 78
Box Score
KENT, Ohio -- Kent State took advantage of a rare opportunity for a mid-major basketball program on Thursday night
Jaylin Walker scored 25 points, including 19 in the second half, and the Golden Flashes, hosting a Pac-12 Conference team for the first time, defeated Oregon State 79-78.
Kent State, which won the Mid-American Conference tournament last season, also hosted a regular-season game against a power conference team for the first time since 1978 against Illinois
"Tonight was a good night for our team and our program," Kent State coach Rob Senderoff said. "You can't take for it for granted when you beat a Power Five team. That just doesn't happen very often. To get that opportunity is rare."
The Golden Flashes (6-6) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Stephen Thompson Jr. and Tres Tinkle led Oregon State (8-4) with 25 points each, but the Beavers' six-game winning streak ended.
Senderoff praised Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle for agreeing to play the Golden Flashes on the road.
"This is the only Power Five school I think is coming to a school in our conference," Senderoff said. "I've got to give coach Tinkle credit. I call 50 schools a year to try to get somebody to do this. They're the only people who were willing."
Danny Pippen's foul shot with three seconds remaining gave Kent State a 79-75 lead before Stephen Thompson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Walker scored five points in 30 seconds that began a 7-0 run for Kent State and pushed its lead to 58-51 with six minutes remaining.
Walker hit a 3-pointer with Kent State ahead 51-50 and followed with a layup. Akien Frederick's shot gave the Golden Flashes a seven-point lead.
Oregon State trailed 74-69 with 20 seconds remaining, but a turnover led to Walker's two free throws. Stephen Thompson's 3-pointer cut the lead to 76-72.
Kevin Zabo hit two free throws, but Stephen Thompson made another 3-pointer cutting the lead to three. Pippen made one of two, sealing the win.
Northern Illinois 69, UIC 63
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. -- Dante Thorpe scored 21 points and Levi Bradley scored 18 and gathered 10 rebounds and Northern Illinois beat Illinois-Chicago 69-63 on Thursday night.
Eugene German added 13 points for Northern Illinois (7-5). Thorpe, Bradley and German scored 34 of the Huskies 36 second-half points.
Dikembe Dickson's two free throws tied it at 41 with 12:19 left, and his jumper more than two minutes later put Illinois-Chicago (4-8) ahead 44-43.
Thorpe and German each made a 3 and Bradley added two free throws and Northern Illinois was ahead by seven. Dominique Matthews shaved the deficit to two before German scored six of the Huskies' next 10 points for a 62-53 lead with 3:19 remaining.
Matthews and Marcus Ottey led the Flames with 17 points apiece, Jordan Blount finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Dixson added 11.
Illinois-Chicago was 45 percent from the field shooting against 41 for the Huskies and had a 41-36 rebounding edge but turned it over 17 times.
Bowling Green 81, Green Bay 78
Box Score
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Rodrick Caldwell and Justin Turner each scored 21 points and Bowling Green beat Green Bay 81-78 in overtime Thursday night.
Caldwell made a 3-pointer in overtime and all six of his free throws -- four in the last 15 seconds -- to secure the win. He missed just one of 11 free throws for the game.
Turner started the extra period with a pair of free throws and his layup with 4:05 left gave Bowling Green (8-4) the lead for good.
Demajeo Wiggins made a pair of free throws with 23 seconds remaining in regulation tie it at 62. Neither team got off a shot at the end. Kameron Hankerson's layup with 9:03 left put Green Bay ahead, 53-45, but the Phoenix went scoreless for more than six minutes while the Falcons took the lead with a 12-0 run with Turner scoring seven.
Wiggins finished with 16 boards and 13 points.
Khalil Small led Green Bay (5-7) with 19 points, Sandy Cohen III added 16, Hankerson 13 and PJ Pipes 11.
DePaul 83, Miami 66
Box Score
CHICAGO -- Marin Maric scored 22 points in 24 minutes off the bench and Max Strus scored 21, 16 in the first half, to lead DePaul over Miami (Ohio) 83-66 on Thursday night.
Maric, who scored 16 points in the second half, hit 6 of 8 shots and 9 of 10 from the free-throw line, while Strus made four 3-pointers. Eli Cain added 19 points, 15 in the second half, and Tre'Darius McCallum had 10 points and eight rebounds.
The Blue Demons (7-5) bounced back from a two-point loss to Northwestern that ended a five-game winning streak.
Nike Sibande scored 17 points, Darrian Ringo 15 and Jake Wright 12 for the RedHawks (7-5), who gave up 29 points off 25 turnovers.
DePaul led by 17 with 11:17 left before Miami cut it to eight with 6 1/2 minutes to go. But Maric scored five points in a 10-0 run that extended the lead to 18.
DePaul trailed by five midway through the first half but went on a 14-0 run that included eight points from Strus and five from Maric and led by nine at halftime.
Texas A&M 89, Buffalo 73
Box Score
COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Duane Wilson scored 23 points and Savion Flagg added 21 as No. 8 A&M, playing without three suspended players, beat Buffalo 89-73 on Thursday night.
A&M announced before the game that junior guard D.J. Hogg, the team's leading scorer at 14.6 points per game, was suspended for three games for a violation of university policy. In addition, freshman guards J.J. Caldwell and T.J. Starks missed the game because of violations of team rules.
No explanation was given for any of the suspensions. Hogg and Caldwell had already been previously suspended to start this season (including only an exhibition game for Hogg). The thin Aggies also are missing starting guard Admon Gilder with an injured knee at least through early in Southeastern Conference play.
SEC play starts on Dec. 30 as A&M (11-1) plays at Alabama, and Hogg is scheduled to miss that game along with the conference home opener against Florida on Jan. 2.
Forward Robert Williams returned Thursday night after missing two games because of a concussion. Williams, the reigning SEC defensive player of the year, was suspended the first two games of the season because of an undisclosed violation of team policy.
The Aggies did what they needed to do for the victory over the Bulls (7-5).
The Aggies led 60-58 with 6:36 remaining when Wilson hit a layup. Williams followed with a block on the other end, and Tonny Trocha-Morelos was fouled on an ensuing A&M fast break. Trocha-Morelos made the layup and resulting free throw, and within the span of less than a minute the Aggies led 65-58.
The Aggies got a scare a couple of minutes later when Williams missed a dunk on a fast break and landed awkwardly. He limped off the court with 4:24 remaining and didn't return, but appeared to be OK afterward.
