Saturday’s Men’s Basketball Results
Ball State 80, Buffalo 66
Central Michigan 86, Western Michigan 57
Eastern Michigan 79, Northern Illinois 76
Ohio 84, Akron 67
Recaps courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Ball State 80, Buffalo 66
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. – On a day the 1999-2000 Ball State men's basketball team was honored at halftime, the current Cardinals won 80-66 over Buffalo on Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena.
Ball State (14-13, 7-7 MAC) led by as many as 14 points after a Payton Sparks putback put the hosts ahead 31-17 at the 8:48 mark of the first half. The Cardinals went into the break up 41-36 and would lead by at least three points the entirety of the second half.
Buffalo (8-19, 3-11 MAC) got within five points at 71-66 with 2:29 to play, but the Cardinals closed out the game scoring the final nine points of the contest to secure the victory.
Sparks had a game-high 18 points and added eight rebounds, while Mickey Pearson Jr., went for 14 points and seven boards. Jermahri Hill tallied a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double with four assists. Ben Hendriks made 6 of 8 field goals and both of his free throw attempts for a career-high 14 points in 11 minutes.
The visitors got 18 points from Kavon Bradford but were limited to 33.3 percent (10-30) shooting in the second half including 9.1 percent (1-11) from distance to suffer the loss.
Ball State shot 43.6 percent (24-55) on field goals, 46.2 percent (6-13) on 3-pointers and 72.2 percent (26-36) at the foul line for the game to win its fourth contest in five tries. The Cardinals held a 41-32 edge in rebounding and committed two fewer turnovers (14-12) than the Bulls. Ball State claimed a 17-2 advantage in second chance points.
Ball State completed the season sweep after taking down the Bulls 89-76 at Buffalo on Feb. 1.
Head coach Ray McCallum and 2000 MAC Tournament Champion Cardinals were honored at halftime in front a season-high crowd of 5,276 at Worthen.
Up next for Ball State is a home game with league-leading Akron at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Central Michigan 86, Western Michigan 57
Box Score
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Anthony Pritchard registered the first triple double in school history and the Central Michigan men's basketball team swept Western Michigan as it rolled to a dominant 86-57 victory on Saturday at University Arena.
The 29-point win marked Central Michigan's largest victory over Western Michigan in the 167-game series dating back to 1908. It eclipsed CMU's 27-point (69-42) win on Feb. 17, 2024 at McGuirk Arena. It also marked the largest CMU win in a game played in Kalamazoo, surpassing the previous 20-point victory (91-71) on March 2, 1991.
Pritchard wove in and out of the Western Michigan defense all day long as he notched 10 points, a career-high 12 assists, and a career-high 10 rebounds. He ripped down his 10th rebound of the day with 2:13 to play for the record-setting performance. It marked his second career double-double.
Pritchard wasn't the only Chippewa to put up an outstanding performance. Ugnius Jarusevicius extended his 20-game scoring streak to four games as he scored 21 points (8-13 FG) to go along with six rebounds, Kyler VanderJagt, wearing No. 72 in the game to honor his grandfather who played football at Western Michigan, added 15 points with three 3-pointers off the bench, Bryan Ndjonga tied a career-high with 15 points, and Jakobi Heady added 11 points. Cayden Vasko grabbed 10 rebounds and added six points.
The Chippewas, who entered the game after dropping three consecutive close MAC games, converted 52.5 percent (32-61) of their field goal attempts, made 70.8 percent (17-24) of their free throws and outrebounded the Broncos 43-30. Western Michigan was held to 35.6 percent (21-59) and made just 23 percent (6-26) of their 3-point field goals.
More importantly, the victory puts Central Michigan back in the conversation for a MAC Tournament postseason berth. CMU improved to 12-15 overall and 5-9 in the MAC and is now one game behind eighth place. Four games remain for Central Michigan against teams that it is competing against for a MAC Tournament berth: Buffalo (home on Tuesday at 7 p.m.), at Eastern Michigan (next Friday, Feb. 28), at Ball State (March 4), and home against Northern Illinois (Friday, March 7).
Central Michigan played a dominating first half and built a commanding 19-point (46-27) lead at the break. Jarusevicius finished with 13 points and Ndjonga provided a spark with 10 in the first half as CMU shot 54.5 percent (18-33), held the hosts to 36.5 percent shooting (11-31) and outrebounded the Broncos 22-16.
Leading 21-19, Central Michigan went on an 8-0 run to take a commanding 29-19 advantage at the 7:12 mark. Jarusevicius made a free throw and followed with a layup, then Vasko hit a 3-pointer and Jakobi Heady converted a layup for the 10-point lead.
The Chippewas extended the lead to 16 points (43-27) with a 9-0 run fueled by a Jarusevicius layup, a layup and 3-pointer by VanderJagt, and two Jarusevicius free throws.
Jarusevicius gave CMU its 19-point lead at halftime with a 3-pointer with four seconds.
In the second half, the game was never in doubt offensive assault continued. The Chippewas maintained the lead through the first 15 minutes when the Chippewas used a 7-0 burst to go up by 30 points. Vasko finished off an impressive 3-point play in which he ran all the way the down the floor and scored on a layup while being fouled. Ndjonga hit two free throws, Pritchard added a steal and layup for his 10th points, and Ndjonga rocked the rim with a dunk.
Central Michigan started Jakobi Heady, Bryan Ndjonga, Ugnius Jarusevicius, Cayden Vasko, and Anthony Pritchard.
Western Michigan dropped to 9-18 overall and 6-8 in the MAC. The Broncos were led by JaVaughn Hannah's 19 points and Chansey Willis Jr.'s 10 points.
Eastern Michigan 79, Northern Illinois 76
Box Score
DeKALB, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) – Jalen Terry hit a 35-foot buzzer-beating three-pointer as the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team overcame an 11-point second-half deficit, a seven-point deficit with 1:15 left, and a four-point deficit with 19 seconds to go to stun hot-shooting Northern Illinois University, 79-76, Saturday, Feb. 22, at the NIU Convocation Center.
Terry (Flint, Mich./Beecher/Oregon/DePaul) scored 28 points as the Eagles earned a crucial Mid-American Conference victory despite NIU converting 15 three-pointers.
Eastern built a 12-8 lead 4:07 into the contest before an 11-2 NIU run gave the Huskies a 23-17 advantage.
The Eagles battled back to tie at the game at 25-25 after Dillon Tingler (Hurricane, W. Va./Huntington Expression Prep) put in a trio of free throws. NIU scored the game's next nine points, putting in a three-pointer just before the halftime buzzer to take a 48-38 lead into the intermission.
The Huskies shot a blistering 11-of-17 (64.3%) from three-point range in the first half.
Eastern quickly erased the halftime deficit, using an 11-0 run to tie the game at 49-49 just 3:57 into the half as Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Dream City Christian) drilled a three-pointer.
The Eagles earned their first lead of the half on a Terry triple with 12:09 to go but the Huskies responded with a 15-5 run to lead 70-61 at the 7:09 mark. EMU still trailed by nine after NIU put home its 15th three of the contest with 3:58 remaining.
Eastern closed the game on a 14-2 run to win as EMU trailed, 76-69, with 1:15 left and 76-72 with 19 seconds to go.
Terry made a left-handed driving lay-up with 15 seconds left to tie the game at 76-76 before the Eagles forced a turnover, getting the ball back with 3.0 seconds on the clock.
Terry launched from 35-feet, knocking down his sixth three of the game to secure the win.
Eastern Michigan hosts Bowling Green State University Tuesday, Feb. 25, at 6:30 p.m. inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center. Click here to purchase tickets.
Ohio 84, Akron 67
Box Score
ATHENS, Ohio – The Ohio men's basketball team (15-12, 9-5 MAC) snapped Akron's (21-6, 13-1 MAC) 14-game win streak-the longest in the nation- with a 84-67 victory Saturday night (Feb. 22) inside the Convocation Center. With the win, the Bobcats clinched a spot in the 2025 MAC Tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
The loss marked the first loss in the MAC for Akron this season, as well as the lowest amount of points scored in a game for the Zips.
Ohio shot 47 percent from the field to Akron's 44 percent. Ohio also shot 27 percent from three-point range compared to Akron's 22 percent, with the Zips making just four 3-pointers, the least it has all season. The Bobcats also went 17-of-23 from the line, while the Zips were 9-of-14 from the charity stripe. Akron out-rebounded the Bobcats 37-35, while the Bobcats dished out 11 assists to the Zips 10. Ohio also forced 14 Akron turnovers and scored 17 points off them, while Ohio only turned the ball over seven times. The Bobcats also recorded nine steals and scored 44 points in the paint.
Junior guard Jackson Paveletzke (Kimberly, Wis.) led all scorers with 21 points, going 8-of-13 from the field, 5-of-5 from the line, while grabbing four rebounds and dishing out two assists. Senior forward AJ Clayton added 18 points and eight rebounds, while redshirt sophomore guard AJ Brown (Orlando, Fla.) scored 16 points, going 5-of 11 from the field, while grabbing four rebounds. Freshman guard Elijah Elliott (Orlando, Fla.) added nine points, five rebounds and four assists, while junior guard Elmore James (Cleveland, Ohio) scored seven points and had five rebounds a three assists.
Akron won the tip, but the Bobcats got on the board first with a dunk from Clayton, setting the tone for the night right off the bat. A pullup three from Elliott put the Bobcats up 5-0, before Akron got on the board. Akron took a 6-5 lead at the 15 minute mark in the first half, before a layup from graduate student forward Vic Searls (Hilliard, Ohio) gave the Bobcats the lead with 14:34 to go in the first half. Akron would not take the lead for the remainder of the game.
Moments later, a three and a jumper from James put the Bobcats up six before the Zips got the Ohio lead back down to two. However, a 9-0 run from the Bobcats put Ohio up 23-12 with 7:03 remaining in the half. Ohio kept the foot on the gas, never letting Akron get closer than 12 points the rest of the half, with a jumper from James and a free throws from Paveletzke giving Ohio the 43-29 lead entering the half.
At the half, Ohio shot 48.5 percent from the field, 31.3 percent from three and were 6-of-7 from the line. Meanwhile, Akron shot 37.1 percent from the field, 16.7 percent from three and were 1-of-3 from the line.
Ohio opened the second half on an 11-2 run to take a 54-31 lead at the 16:42 mark. Akron was able to cut the Ohio lead down to 18 over the course of the next five minutes, but a three-point play from Brown, put the Bobcats up 26 with 11:01 remaining in the game. With under seven minutes to go, a three from Clayton put the Bobcats up 27 - Ohio's largest lead of the game. Akron went on a 10-0 run to cut Ohio's lead to 17 with 3:15 to go. However, Ohio's defense and free throws down the stretch from Clayton and Brown helped secure the 84-67 victory.
The Bobcats will be back in action on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in Kalamazoo, Mich. to face off against Western Michigan. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. ET and will be available for viewing on ESPN+.