Late Game Heroics From Persons Lift Ball State Over Valparaiso
Saturday's Scoreboard
Ball State 71, Valparaiso 70
Buffalo 88, Central Penn. College 54
Central Michigan 74, Tennessee Tech 69
Northern illinois 61, Central Connecticut 55
Miami 81, Fort Wayne 73
Eastern Michigan 80, Central State 65
Western Michigan 87, Detroit Mercy 79
Akron 94, Appalachian State 89
Marshall 93, Toledo 87
Old Dominion 88, Bowling Green 46
Wright State 63, Kent State 54
Stories Courtesy of the Associated Press
Ball State 71, Valparaiso 70
Box Score
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Tayler Persons scored 23 points, including seven straight down the stretch and the game-winning 3-pointer with 3.3 seconds left, and Ball State beat Valparaiso 71-70 on Saturday to win its fifth straight.
The Crusaders regained the lead 60-56 after an 11-2 run capped by Bakari Evelyn's 3-pointer, but the Cardinals led 68-67 on Persons' jumper with 2:08 to go.
Max Joseph hit two free throws for a 69-68 Valparaiso lead and Jon Kiser added one of two to make it 70-68 with 14 seconds left. Trey Moses got the defensive rebound and Persons drained a 3 from the top of the key to win it. Valpo's shot at the buzzer bounced off the backboard.
Persons hit a game-winning 3 with 1.7 seconds left to upset No. 9 Notre Dame 80-77 on Tuesday.
Kyle Mallers, Moses and Jeremie Tyler scored 10 apiece for the Cardinals (6-4) who trailed 31-29 at halftime. Persons had five assists and Moses had six.
Joe Burton scored 17 points with four 3-pointers, Evelyn added 14 points and Derrik Smits had 12 for the Crusaders (8-2).
Buffalo 88, Central Penn. College 54
Box Score
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- James Reese scored 18 points with six rebounds and six assists as Buffalo cruised to an 88-54 win over Division II Central Pennsylvania College on Saturday.
CJ Massinburg had 13 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls (6-3). Montell McRae added another 13 points, Jayvon Graves had 11 points and six assists and Jeremy Harris added 10 points with 10 rebounds.
The team averaged 48 percent shooting from the floor compared to 32 percent for Central Penn.
Buffalo led all the way and a McRae dunk capped a 15-2 start and Reese sank three 3-pointers in the half to help build a 46-18 advantage at the break.
Central Penn doubled its first-half points in the second period but trailed by double figures throughout and the Bulls cruised to the win.
Randy Dupont led the Knights with 20 points. Noah Baylor grabbed 12 rebounds.
Central Michigan 74, Tennessee Tech 69
Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Cecil Williams drove for a layup in the final seconds to secure Central Michigan's 73-69 win over Tennessee Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Tennessee Tech cut the margin to 70-69 when Mason Ramsey hit a hook shot with 27 seconds left. Central Michigan beat the ensuing full-court press as Kevin McKay found Williams cutting to the basket for the game-winning bucket. He was fouled on the play and converted the free throw for the final score.
Williams led the Chippewas (8-1) with 17 points, two blocks and five steals. Shawn Roundtree also had 17 points, knocking down 3 of 5 from distance. David DiLeo added 14 and McKay chipped in 10 for Central Michigan, which has won seven straight.
Curtis Phillips had 14 points for Tennessee Tech (7-4) which dropped its third straight game. Ramsey added 13 points with nine rebounds and Aleksa Jugovic and Kajon Mack had 12 points apiece.
Northern illinois 61, Central Connecticut 55
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. -- Eugene German scored 19 points, Levi Bradley scored 16 and Northern Illinois collected 11 steals in a 61-55 win over Central Connecticut on Saturday.
The Huskies led 35-24 at halftime and extended the margin to 46-30 with Anastasios Demogerontas' 3-pointer with 14:45 to play. The Blue Devils went on a 14-2 run in the next four minutes with Kashaun Hicks scoring three-straight 3-pointers in consecutive possessions to reduce the deficit to 48-44.
Tyler Kohl made a pair of free throws to shave the deficit to 58-55, but the Blue Devils didn't score again. Hicks's layup with 2:57 left was the last field goal of the game for both teams.
Demogerontas added 10 points for Northern Illinois (6-4).
Kohl led Central Connecticut (5-5) with 20 points and nine rebounds, Deion Bute was 6-of-7 shooting for 13 points with seven rebounds and Kashaun Hicks scored 11. Noah McCarty had four steals.
The Blue Devils have lost two straight after five consecutive wins.
Miami 81, Fort Wayne 73
Box Score
MIAMI, Ohio -- Jake Wright never shot inside the 3-point arc and buried a career-high seven 3s for a career-high 22 points and Miami (Ohio) beat Fort Wayne 81-73 on Saturday.
Wright shot 13 times from long range, Dalonte Brown only missed twice in 10-shot attempts and scored 17 points, Nick Sibande scored 16 and Logan McLane had 12 points and nine rebounds for Miami (6-4).
The Redhawks shot 29 of 54 (54 percent) and 14 of 25 (56 percent) from beyond the arc.
Miami led the entire second half but Kason Harrell converted a 3-point off a layup after a Sibande turnover and brought the Mastodons to within 70-67 with 4:15 left to play. Xzavier Taylor's jumper trimmed the deficit to a point, but Dalonte Brown buried a jumper, and Sibande converted a layup after an Isaiah Coleman-Lands steal and Miami took it from there.
Bryson Scott and Jordon King each scored 13 for Fort Wayne (6-5) and Taylor scored 12.
Eastern Michigan 80, Central State 65
Box Score
YPSILANTI, Mich. -- James Thompson IV had 19 points and a season-high 18 rebounds to help lead Eastern Michigan to an 80-65 win over Division II Central State (Ohio) on Saturday afternoon.
Eastern Michigan (7-2) which garnered its sixth straight home win, jumped out to an early lead and never trailed, taking a 45-27 advantage into the half.
The Marauders had a 6-0 run to close to 62-57 midway in the second period. Paul Jackson answered with two free throws and Elijah Minnie slammed home a dunk as Eastern Michigan pulled away in the final minutes.
Thompson, who had his eighth double-double of the year, made 9 of 10 field-goal attempts and grabbed seven offensive rebounds. Minnie also totaled 19 points on 6-of-14 shooting with three assists, four steals and two blocks. Paul Jackson added 14 points and Tim Bond chipped in 13 for the Eagles.
Jeremy Brown led Central State with 18 points.
Western Michigan 87, Detroit Mercy 79
Box Score
DETROIT -- Thomas Wilder scored 30 points with seven rebounds and six assists to lead Western Michigan to an 87-79 win over Detroit Mercy on Saturday afternoon.
Wilder was 9 of 17 from the floor including six 3-pointers for the Broncos (6-4). Brandon Johnson added 20 points and nine rebounds and Drake LaMont had 12 points.
Western Michigan trailed 41-36 at the break but a Josh Davis 3-pointer early in the second half sparked a 15-3 run that also included 3-pointers by Wilder and Bryce Moore that put the Broncos on top 51-47 with 15:23 to play.
Detroit Mercy closed it to 69-68 on a Corey Allen 3 with 6:51 to go but the Broncos answered 14 back-to-back points capped by a Johnson dunk to stretch it to 83-75 with 2:45 remaining.
Allen scored 32 points for the Titans (4-6) who have lost four straight.
Akron 94, Appalachian State 89
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio -- Malcolm Duvivier hit 6 of 9 from 3-point range and scored 24 and Daniel Utomi added a double-double to propel Akron to a 94-89 victory over Appalachian State on Saturday night in a game that tipped off three hours late because of weather conditions.
Utomi finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds and the sophomore buried two late 3-pointers to help the Zips (5-2) hold off the Mountaineers (5-6) in the first meeting between the schools.
Griffin Kinney poured in a career-high 28 points for Appalachian State. The senior made 9 of 13 shots from the floor and 9 of 11 free throws. Ronshad Shabazz scored 18 of his 26 points in the second half and added five assists, while Justin Forrest scored 13 with five assists.
Virshon Cotton and Duvivier hit back-to-back 3-pointers to key a 14-7 run and the Zips led 47-38 at the half.
The Mountaineers battled back and led 77-76 on two Kinney free throws with 4:32 remaining in the game, but Cotton hit two free throws, Duvivier made a jumper and Utomi hit back-to-back 3s to push the lead 86-79 and the Zips held on from there.
Marshall 93, Toledo 87
Box Score
TOLEDO, Ohio -- Jon Elmore scored 25 points, Ajdin Penava added 24 more and Marshall rallied late in the second half to slip past Toledo for a 93-87 win Saturday night.
Trailing by eight with three minutes to play, Marshall (7-3) erased the deficit with 14 unanswered points, edging back on top with 45 seconds to go when C.J. Burks got a steal and slammed in the go-ahead dunk to make it 89-87. Elmore then sank a pair of free throws and Penava got his fourth block of the night at the other end to set up Dani Koljanin's dunk to seal it.
Toledo, which led most of the second half, was held scoreless over the final 2:55, missing six straight shots.
Burks and Jarrod West had 12 points apiece for Marshall, which shot 50 percent from the field to pick up is first win in Toledo since 2000.
Tre'Shaun Fletcher made 15 of 16 free throws and scored a career-high 31 points to lead Toledo (5-4), while Luke Knapke added 18 points to go with 11 rebounds and Jaelan Sanford scored 13.
Old Dominion 88, Bowling Green 46
Box Score
NORFOLK, Va. -- Brandan Stith scored 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds and younger brother B.J. Stith scored 15 to power Old Dominion to an 88-46 victory over Bowling Green on Saturday night in the first meeting between the schools.
Ahmad Caver finished with 10 points and eight assists for the Monarchs (7-3). Xavier Green came off the bench to score 14 on 5-of-6 shooting.
Justin Turner missed all five of his 3-point shots but scored 17 to lead the Falcons (7-4). Antwon Lillard added 10 points off the bench. It marked the first time in 11 games this season that the Falcons didn't have at least one player score 20-plus points.
Old Dominion forced 15 turnovers, while committing only five. The Monarchs came into the game averaging just 10.6 turnovers per game, 11th best in the country. Old Dominion also improved to 7-0 this season when holding opponents under 68 points.
The Monarchs took control from the tipoff and led by double digits just five minutes into the game. Green scored five points in the final 63 seconds of the first half and Old Dominion led 39-23 by intermission.
Wright State 63, Kent State 54
Box Score
DAYTON, Ohio -- Grant Benzinger scored 13 points and Justin Mitchell collected 11 rebounds and tied a career-high with five steals as Wright State defeated Kent State 63-54 on Saturday.
Parker Ernsthausen gave Wright State (6-4) the lead for good at 19-17 on a jumper with seven minutes left before halftime. Everett Winchester and Ernsthausen each added layups for a six-point lead. Jaylon Hall's jumper put the Raiders up 29-19 and they led 31-24 at the break.
Wright State -- winners of six of its last seven -- led by double figures most of the second half. Hall and Ernsthausen each had 11 points for Wright State, while Winchester scored 10.
Both squads struggled to shoot from the floor as the Raiders were 20 of 52 (39 percent) and Kent State 19 of 52 (37 percent). The Golden Flashes committed 24 turnovers to Wright State's 16.
Jalen Avery scored 17 points and Danny Pippen added 11 points with a career-high 11 boards for Kent State (5-5). Ryan Bernstein had a career-high four steals.
