Mid-American Conference

MAC Men's Basketball Tournament Central
MAC Men's Basketball Tournament Bracket

No. 1 Buffalo (24-8, 15-3 MAC) vs. No. 5 Kent State (17-16, 9-9 MAC)
CBS Sports Network | 6:30 PM ET 
Buffalo: Jeremy Harris scored a career-high 27 points and added 10 rebounds to help the top-seeded University at Buffalo men's basketball team hold off Central Michigan 89-74, in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. It was the Bulls' school-record 24th win and they will next play the winner of Ball State/Kent State in the semifinals on Friday night.The Bulls nearly led wire-to-wire, but it took them until the game's closing minutes to get the knockout punch.Harris, who had the best game of his career, nailed his fourth three-pointer of the day on the Bulls' ensuing possession to extend the UB lead to five. CMU continued to fight and hit a jumper to cut the UB advantage to 77-74 with 2:35 left. But a Wes Clark three-pointer ignited a 12-0 scoring run to end the game and gave the Bulls the 15-point victory.
 
Kent State: Kent State continued to be at its best when it needed it most in a 76-73 victory over Ball State Thursday afternoon at Quicken Loans Arena.  The defending champions ran their MAC Tournament winning streak to six games, all of which have been decided by five points or less. The Golden Flashes will take on top-seeded Buffalo Friday at 6:30 p.m.  The Bulls defeated Central Michigan earlier in the day. Junior Jalen Avery went 6-for-8 from the field and saved his biggest bucket for the end.  With the shot clock winding down and his team up one (72-71), Avery found a way to get through multiple Cardinal defenders from the top of the key to the basket.
 
No. 2 Toledo (22-10, 13-5 MAC) vs. No. 3 Eastern Michigan (21-11, 11-7 MAC) 
CBSSports.com | 30 min following Semifinal #1
Toledo: No. 2 seed Toledo  makes its third Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal appearance in the last five years when it faces No. 3 seed Eastern Michigan tonight in Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena. A win over the Eagles would put UT in the MAC Championship Game for the sixth time in program history and first time since 2014. Toledo advanced to the semifinals with a 71-69 victory last night over Miami. Junior Jaelan Sanford scored 21 points to lead the Rockets' offense. UT has received a first-round bye and won 20 or more games in three of the last five years. UT possesses a 6-5 win-loss mark against Eastern Michigan in the MAC Tournament. The Rockets and Eagles met in postseason play in 2014, 2015 and 2016 with Toledo winning in 2014 and 2015. UT is 3-0 vs. EMU in games played in Quicken Loans Arena. Fletcher has 1,076 points as a collegian, which includes 596 points at Toledo and 480 in three seasons at Colorado.

Eastern Michigan: EMU follows up its exciting 19-point comeback victory versus the University of Akron in the MAC Tournament Quarterfinals with a rematch against UT (22-10, 13-5 MAC), who narrowly defeated Miami University, 71-69, Thursday, March 8.  Eastern trailed by 19 points at the 12:30 mark of the second half against Akron, but rallied on the strength of its pressure defense. A 21-1 run helped to get EMU its first win over the Zips in the MAC Tournament and push the winning streak to seven. Eastern avenged five season-ending setbacks to Akron, including twice in the last two seasons. Redshirt junior Elijah Minnie scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half, including his 1,000th career point (479 at Robert Morris, 541 at EMU), while also grabbing 14 rebounds and three steals. Fellow redshirt junior Paul Jackson added 15 points and five assists, while senior Tim Bond chipped in 15 points and grabbed eight boards.