Toledo Captures 8th Straight Win With Victory at Middle Tennessee
Saturday Scoreboard
Toledo 84, Middle Tennessee 62
#14 Buffalo 73, Southern Illinois 65
Ohio 63, Detroit Mercy 61
Marshall 75,
Akron 74
Louisville 83,
Kent State 70
#5 Michigan 70,
Western Michigan 62
Stories Courtesy of Associated Press
Toledo 84, Middle Tennessee 62
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Marreon Jackson scored 17 points and Toledo won its eighth straight by beating Middle Tennessee 84-62 on Saturday night.
The Rockets' 10-1 start is its best since winning its first 12 in the 2013-14 season.
Karl Gamble's jump shot gave Middle Tennessee its last lead at 11-10. The Rockets went on a 15-5 run and never looked back on their way to a 48-30 lead at the break.
Toledo shot 15 of 27 (55.6 percent) in the first half including 7 of 13 from 3-point range. Toledo was 11 of 13 from the foul line while Middle Tennessee didn't get to the line once.
Chris Darrington, Jackson and Jaelan Sanford each scored 10 points for the Rockets in the first half. Darrington, Sanford and Luke Knapke each finished with 12 points. Willie Jackson finished with 12 rebounds.
Reggie Scurry and Antonio Green each scored 13 for the Blue Raiders (3-8).
#14 Buffalo 73, Southern Illinois 65
Box Score
AMHERST, N.Y. -- After surviving a surprising challenge on its home floor, Buffalo is ready for a challenging road ahead.
Nick Perkins had 20 points and 11 rebounds, and No. 14 Buffalo beat Southern Illinois 73-65 on Saturday ahead of a pivotal trip to face Syracuse and No. 21 Marquette next week.
The undefeated Bulls (10-0) are eyeing a return to the NCAA Tournament after upending No. 4 seed Arizona as a 13th seed last year.
"It's the biggest week of our nonconference season," Buffalo coach Nate Oats said. "If we take care of business this week, we pretty much guarantee ourselves an at-large bid."
The reigning Mid-American Conference champs entered the AP Top 25 for the first time in program history after beating then-No. 13 West Virginia on Nov. 9 and have risen in the rankings every week since.
"If we come out and play like we are capable of playing, I think we can get two wins," Oats said. "Even if we get one out of the two, I think we get an at-large bid if we do what we are supposed to in conference."
Southern Illinois (7-5) gave Buffalo a chance to prepare for Tuesday's matchup with Syracuse by switching to a zone defense after the Bulls opened up an early 25-8 lead. The Salukis trimmed the advantage to 33-28 by halftime and came back again in the second half after the Bulls built their largest lead, 59-39, with 10:46 remaining.
"They kind of shocked us," Perkins said of the switch to zone. "It's something that helps us going into Syracuse. Obviously, they play zone for 40 minutes. So SIU, I thought they helped us a little bit with knowing what plays to work."
Perkins scored 11 points during a 17-0 run that forced Salukis coach Barry Hinson to try the zone.
"I thought Perkins would immediately have to go to Springfield and enter the Hall of Fame, the way he played," Hinson said.
Oats said it was the best game of the season for Buffalo's senior sixth man.
"It told him before the game, it's been about a month or so since he got a double-double," Oats said. "It's time to get another one."
Sean Lloyd had 14 points to lead Southern Illinois in its second straight loss.
Ohio 63, Detroit Mercy 61
Box Score
DETROIT -- Teyvion Kirk's banked 3-pointer with 46 seconds provided the winning points after Ohio blew a 19-point second-half lead and the Bobcats beat Detroit Mercy 63-61 on Saturday.
Both teams missed two free throws each before Harrison Curry's 3-point try missed at the buzzer.
Kirk finished with 16 points and seven rebounds but committed eight turnovers. Jason Carter scored 20 points while Doug Taylor had 13 rebounds to go with nine points for Ohio (7-3).
A 12-0 run capped by a 3-pointer by Ben Vander Plas gave Ohio a 19-point lead with 12:21 to go. But Detroit responded with a 24-6 run led by eight points from Curry and seven by Antoine Davis while Ohio was going 2 of 11 as the Titans closed to within a point with three minutes left.
Davis, a freshman who came in as the nation's second-leading scorer at 27.4 per game and the 3-point leader at 5.4 per outing, finished with 19 points, making 3 of 11 from the arc for the Titans (3-8), who have lost five straight. Curry scored 12 points.
Marshall 75, Akron 74
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio -- Jon Elmore totaled 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Marshall held off Akron 75-74 on Saturday.
Elmore sank just 7 of 21 shots and was 1 of 8 from 3-point range until he hit from distance with 2:37 left to play to give the Thundering Herd (7-4) a 75-69 lead. Daniel Utomi scored on a layup, blocked a shot at the other end, grabbed the rebound and sank a 3-pointer to pull the Zips (6-4) within 75-74 with 1:25 to go. Loren Cristian Jackson and Jimond Ivey missed jumpers for Akron in the final four seconds.
C.J. Burks pitched in with 13 points and seven rebounds for Marshall, while freshman Taevion Kinsey scored 10. The Thundering Herd won in Akron for the first time since 2001 and improved to 6-0 this season when leading at halftime. Jarrod West scored all nine of his points in the first half to help Marshall take a 42-36 lead.
Jackson hit five 3-pointers, scoring 26 with five assists for the Zips. Utomi sank four 3s and scored 18, while Tyler Cheese added 14 points and four assists.
Louisville 83,
Kent State 70
Box Score
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville used a combination of sharp shooting and effective defense Saturday afternoon to put away Kent State.
The Cardinals got 17 points from Christen Cunningham and 16 from Dwayne Sutton -- both season highs -- as they notched their seventh consecutive home win, beating the Golden Flashes 83-70.
Louisville (8-3) shot 51 percent from the floor, making 26 of 51, led by Cunningham, who made 5-of-6 shots.
"I think our best offense today was just driving the ball," he said. "When teams are out denying the passing lanes, it leaves a lot of space for me in the court. I think that just opened up getting some easy baskets, and I got into a pretty good rhythm."
The Golden Flashes (8-2) led 13-10 after a Jalen Avery 3-pointer with 13:10 left in the first half. However, Kent State made just two baskets over the next 6:47 as the Cardinals took command. A Malik Williams 3-pointer with 12:28 left in the half made it 14-13 Cardinals, who never trailed after that.
Louisville finished the first half making eight of its last 10 shots, capped by a Cunningham 15-footer with two seconds left that extended the halftime lead 45-28. The graduate transfer from Samford scored 12 points in the half, hitting all four of his shots.
Cardinals coach Chris Mack especially liked the way his team played on both sides of the court in the first half, as Kent State missed seven of its last 11 shots.
"I thought that was as good as we played on both ends of the floor. That's where we got the separation," he said.
The lead grew to 54-30 with 16:36 remaining after a 3-point play by Cunningham. Louisville led by 19 with 1:21 left before the Golden Flashes finished off the game with a 6-0 run.
Sutton, a junior wing, scored 12 of his points and grabbed six of his seven rebounds in the second half. Jordan Nwora and Williams added 13 points for Louisville, with Nwora posting 10 rebounds.
Jaylin Walker scored 28 points to lead Kent State. It's the fourth time the senior guard, who drained 7 of-10 3-point shots, has led the Golden Flashes in scoring in five games since serving a five-game suspension to start the season.
#5 Michigan 70, Western Michigan 62
Box Score
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- No. 5 Michigan has breezed past the competition for much of the season, coasting to lopsided wins even against ranked opponents.
Western Michigan provided the Wolverines with a different kind of experience.
Charles Matthews made a layup just before halftime to give No. 5 Michigan its first lead, then matched a season high with 25 points and grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds to help undefeated Michigan beat the Broncos 70-62 on Saturday.
"We needed to get through something like that," coach John Beilein said. "When things aren't going well and you're about to get upset, you need resiliency."
Michigan (11-0) is off to its best start since it was 16-0 six seasons ago. Before getting a relative scare from Western Michigan, the Wolverines had beaten teams by an average of 18-plus points.
The Broncos (5-5) were in control for much of the first half and led by eight points with 2:58 remaining after Michael Flowers scored 11 of his career-high 31 points in just over two minutes.
"Flowers is tremendous," Beilein said. "He kept them in the game."
Matthews helped Michigan bounce back from a sluggish start. He scored eight of his team's 10 points to close the first half, giving Michigan a 30-28 lead.
"I was just trying to be aggressive," Matthews said.
He scored five more points during the Wolverines' 14-2 run early in the second half, giving them a cushion they needed because the Broncos stayed aggressive on both ends.
Matthews made a 3-pointer with 1:13 left to put the Wolverines ahead by eight.
Michigan's Zavier Simpson scored 15 points and Jordan Poole had 14, making up for Ignas Brazdeikis and Jon Teske combining to score just seven points.
"It shows how dynamic we are," Poole said.
Jared Printy had 10 points for the Broncos, whose top two scorers were held well below their average. Seth Dugan had seven points, more than 10 points below his average, and Josh Davis fouled out with four points after entering the game scoring nearly 14 points per game.
