Friday’s Men’s Basketball Results
Kent State 68, Buffalo 49
Toledo 69, Central Michigan 67
Recaps courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Kent State 68, Buffalo 49
Box Score
BUFFALO – The Kent State Men's Basketball team earned their second straight Mid-American Conference win on Friday night by a final score of 68-49 over the Bulls of the University at Buffalo. VonCameron Davis and Jalen Sullinger dropped double-digits, and Marquis Barnett surpassed 1,000 points on his college career.
Kent State opened the game on a 9-6 run before the game quickly ramped up defensively. The Flashes and Bulls battled for every possession in the first half. KSU was sparked with just under seven minutes to go in the first retaking the lead as Jalen Sullinger drew a foul on a made layup. Cli'Ron Hornbeak then turned it into a four-point play slamming in the rebound on the missed free-throw. Kent State outscored Buffalo 11-5 to close the half leading by four at the break. The Golden Flashes pushed their lead back to eight in the first five minutes of the second half. Delrecco Gillespie completed a three-point play with 13:45 to play extending the lead to 10. With 10:11 left to play, Barnett drained a three to surpass 1,000 points in his college career. Kent State outscored Buffalo 25-14 over the last 10 minutes of play, and scored 44 second half points to earn the 19-point victory.
Barnett's four points were enough for him to achieve a new total of 1,003 points in his combined college career between his previous three years at Presbyterian, and this season at Kent State. He is the third Flash this season to surpass 1,000 career points. Davis' roster leading 20 points mark the fourth game in a row he has tallied at least 20. He and Gillespie also led the Flashes in rebounding with eight each. Jalen Sullinger scored double-digits for the ninth time this season, and for the fourth straight game dropping 12 against UB. Cian Medley tallied eight assists on the night leading KSU and setting a new single game season high. He also had six points and six rebounds respectively.
Kent State Men's Basketball will be back in action at home in the M.A.C. Center on Tuesday, Jan. 14 against the Broncos of the Western Michigan University at 7:00 p.m. For more information on Kent State men's basketball, fans can follow the team on X, Instagram and Facebook.
Toledo 69, Central Michigan 67
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio – Sophomore Javan Simmons nearly registered a double-double to help the Toledo men's basketball team remain undefeated in Mid-American Conference play with a 69-67 victory over Central Michigan (6-9, 0-3 MAC) on Friday night in Savage Arena. The victory was the Rockets' third straight and improved their record to 9-6 overall and 3-0 in the MAC.
The Chippewas had a chance to tie the score at the buzzer, but Kyle Vanderjagt's jumper from the left wing was short. Toledo trailed by as many as eight points in the first half before recovering to take a 34-30 lead at intermission.
Simmons ended his workmanlike evening with 17 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two blocked shots in 33 minutes. Also scoring in double figures for the Rockets were sophomores Sam Lewis (15 pts.), Sonny Wilson (11 pts.) and Bryce Ford (10 pts.).
Toledo shot 49.0% from the field and 30.8% (4-of-13) from three-point range and limited the Chippewas to a 44.4 FG% and 23.8 mark (5-of-21) from behind the arc.
CMU made four of its first five shots to jump out to a 10-2 lead. A three-pointer by Sam Lewis and four free throws by Javan Simmons cut the Chippewas' lead to 10-9.
A 9-2 run extended CMU's advantage to 19-11, but the Rockets countered with a pair of three-pointers by Bryce Ford and two mid-range jumpers from Sam Lewis to tie the score at 21-21 at the 6:31 media timeout.
The score stayed tight for the rest of the half until an Isaiah Adams' triple with 1:34 left gave Toledo a 34-30 halftime lead. Lewis led the Rockets with nine first-half points, followed by Simmons with eight.
Toledo's lead fluctuated between four and six points in the first six minutes of the second half until Seth Hubbard's three-point play and Adams' short jumper increased the margin to 49-40 with 12:16 left.
CMU punched right back, going on a 7-0 run to trim the lead to 49-47. The Rockets continued to hold onto the lead, extending it to eight, 64-56, on a Simmons layup with 4:22 left.
CMU cut the lead in half, 68-65, on a three-pointer with 1:21 left.
After Sonny Wilson split a pair of free throws, CMU knocked down two from the stripe with 35 seconds left to trim the lead to 69-67.
A Chippewa steal on the ensuing inbounds play set up a final chance for CMU, but Wilson forced Kyler Vanderjagt into an awkward shot that fell far short.
The Rockets begin a stretch of playing four of their next five games on the road with a trip to Northeast Ohio to face Akron (9-5, 2-0 MAC) on Tuesday, Jan. 14.
