Friday's Men's Basketball Results
Bowling Green 80, Ball State 70
Central Michigan 65, Eastern Michigan 62 (OT)
Northern Illinois 78, Buffalo 68
Ohio 72, Miami 59
Toledo 86, Kent State 71
Western Michigan 90, Akron 84
Stories courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Bowling Green 80, Ball State 70
Boxscore
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team closed out the regular season with a win for the first time since the 2012-13 season on Friday (March 8) with an 80-70 victory over the Ball State Cardinals. The win gives BGSU 10 conference wins for the first time since 2020-21 and the most wins at home since 2019-20. Bowling Green will now turn their attention to the MAC Tournament next Thursday (March 14) against Central Michigan in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Falcons and Cardinals traded buckets in the early going, playing to an 18-18 tie. A 4-0 burst pushed BGSU to a 22-18 advantage with Bowling Green holding the lead from that point forward. Ball State drew within two at 28-26 in the first half, but the Falcons closed out the half with a 7-0 run for a 35-26 lead at the halfway point. Ball State drew within one in the second half at 60-59, but another BGSU run, this time 8-0, rebuilt the Bowling Green lead, rolling into an 80-70 win.
Marcus Hill led the way for Bowling Green with 24 points, his 17th 20-point game of the year to move him up to fifth all-time for points in a single season. Hill added a career-high five steals as well as a team-leading five assists. Jason Spurgin followed with 15 points, including a team-high three triples. Off the bench, Sam Towns scored a season-high 11 points and led the team with seven rebounds while DaJion Humphrey added 10 points, including two key threes in the second half.
Ball State won the opening tip, but it was Bowling Green who struck first. Da'Shawn Phillip got a layup to fall followed by a Marcus Hill jumper for a 4-0 BGSU lead.
The Cardinals tallied a bucket before Hill hit a three. Ball State added a jumper for a 7-4 score at the first media timeout.
A three after the media break for Ball State tied the game at 7-7. Trey Thomas quickly answered with a three of his own. Sam Towns then snagged a defensive rebound and ran the length of the court for a layup for a 12-7 BGSU lead.
The Cardinals responded with a 6-0 run to move in front 13-12, but a Hill layup reclaimed the lead for the Falcons, 14-13, at the under-12 media timeout.
A three for Ball State moved them in front but a Hill layup tied it at 16-16. The two teams traded buckets to an 18-18 tie as well with BGSU's bucket coming from an EJay Greer jumper.
The Falcons followed with Rashaun Agee finding DaJion Humphrey in transition for a layup and a 20-18 lead at the under-8 timeout.
After the timeout, Agee joined the scoring column with a layup to push the BGSU advantage to 22-18.
The teams resumed trading points with Jason Spurgin hitting a three for the Falcons to bring the score to 25-20. The same sequence repeated with Thomas hitting another three for Bowling Green to bring the score to 28-22 at the under-4 media break.
Ball State registered back-to-back baskets to trim the lead to 28-26, but the Falcons closed out the half with a 7-0 run to go to the locker room up 35-26. Agee and Hill had back-to-back layups before a Towns and-one for the run.
The Cardinals hit a three to start the second half before two free throws from Phillip and a Spurgin three for a 5-0 BGSU burst and 40-29 advantage.
The two teams went back-and-forth again with layups from Towns and Hill for the Falcons for a 45-35 BGSU lead at the under-16 media timeout. Out of the timeout, Towns hit his first three of the season to push the lead to 48-35.
Ball State answered with a 7-0 run to cut into the lead at 48-42. Humphrey ended the run with a mid-range jumper. Hill followed with a steal and layup for a 52-42 BGSU lead at the under-12 media break.
Spurgin got a hook shot after the timeout to make it a 6-0 BGSU run and 54-42 lead before Ball State added four points at the line for a 54-46 tally.
Spurgin made another layup to end the Ball State spurt before a Cardinal three and layup to cut the lead down to 56-51 at the under-8 media timeout. The Ball State run extended to 11-2 out of the timeout with a 56-53 score. Hill ended the run with a pair of free throws.
The Cardinals continued to chip away at the lead, drawing within one at 60-59 before a Humphrey three to put the score at 63-59 at the final media timeout of regulation.
During the timeout, a flagrant one call went against Ball State for two Spurgin free throws followed by a Spurgin three to push the lead to 68-59 with an 8-0 BGSU run.
Agee added a layup to the Bowling Green tally with three Ball State free throws and a layup cut the score to 70-64. Humphrey hit a three to end the run and extend the lead to 73-64.
The two teams traded free throws with four from Ball State and one from Hill with the score at 74-68 with a BGSU timeout.
Hill hit two free throws after the timeout along with two from Phillip before two Ball State free throws. The shots at the line continued with Hill adding two for an 80-70 score.
Bowling Green will advance to the MAC Tournament next week, facing off with Central Michigan in the first round on Thursday (March 14). The Falcons and Chippewas will play the second game of the day, which will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game, which starts at 11 a.m. Fans should plan for an approximate 1:30 p.m. start for the Orange and Brown.
Central Michigan 65, Eastern Michigan 62 (OT)
Boxscore
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.— Paul McMillan IV scored a game-high 25 points and senior Brian Taylor, playing in his final home game on Senior Night, finished with a career-high 22 rebounds and 14 points as Central Michigan came-from-behind, then used overtime to defeat Eastern Michigan, 65-62, in the season's regular season final contest Friday night at McGuirk Arena.
With the win, CMU closes out its regular season with an 18-13 overall record and 12-6 MAC record. CMU's 12 MAC wins are its most since the 2014-15 season when it also won 12. CMU also swept Eastern Michigan for the first time since the 2020-21 season. It played its fifth overtime game of the year and improved to 4-1 in overtime games on the season. CMU also improved to 16-1 on the year when holding opponents to 70 points or less.
Central Michigan will enter next week's MAC Men's Basketball Tournament in Cleveland on a two-game win streak. Regardless of Friday's result, Central Michigan entered the night locked in as the league's No. 4 seed when it opens the MAC Men's Basketball Tournament First Round play against No. 5 seed Bowling Green on Thursday at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET.
McMillan scored 13 of Central Michigan's final 15 points in the contest, including eight of Central Michigan's 10 points in overtime to register the victory. In overtime, McMillan gave CMU a 58-57 lead on a driving layup with 3:09 to go, then scored on fast break layup. A minute later he extended CMU's lead to five points (62-57) on two free throws with 1:47 to play. Two more McMillan free throws with 22 seconds to go put the game out of reach.
The Chippewas had to battle back from a double-digit deficit to register the win. They trailed by 11 points (49-38), but outscored EMU 17-6 over the final seven minutes to send the game into overtime. Aidan Rubio and Taylor both hit key 3-pointers, McMillan added a fast break layup, Taylor scored on an offensive putback, and McMillan added two free throws. With Central Michigan trailing 55-52, McMillan hit a 3-pointer with 1:05 to play that sent the game into overtime.
CMU played without center Markus Harding, forward Jemal Davis, and guard Anthony Pritchard. With the missing players, Taylor saw action at both the power forward and center positions. His career-high 22 rebounds tied for the fifth-highest game total in school history and he registered his seventh double-double of the year and 11th of his career. Most importantly, he was playing in his final game on Senior Night at McGuirk Arena in front of friends and family members.
For the second straight game, Central Michigan jumped out to an early lead. The Chippewas went up 8-1 on a Butler 3-pointer, then used an 11-0 run to take a commanding 19-4 lead on a jumper by Taylor, a 3-point play by McMillan, 3-pointer Vasko, and Rubio 3-pointer. Another Butler 3-pointer from the corner made it 24-8 with 10:22 to play in the first half.
But it wouldn't last as Eastern Michigan slowly battled back with an 11-0 run and held the Chippewas scoreless for nearly eight minutes to cut the lead down to 24-19. The Chippewas ended the first half with a 29-23 lead.
Early in the second half, Eastern Michigan took the lead and used a 6-0 run to go up 36-31. The visiting Eagles used a 9-0 EMU run on a Connor Serven 3-pointer, two Yusuf Jihad free throws, a Jihad dunk, and Jalin Billingsley alley-oop dunk to go up 11 points (47-36) with 8:14 to play.
Central Michigan outrebounded Eastern Michigan 60-38 and held the Eagles to 34.8 percent (23-66) field goal shooting. Butler added 12 points for CMU, which also converted eight 3-pointers.
Eastern Michigan ends its year with a 13-18 overall record and 6-12 MAC record. The Eagles were led by Arne Osojnik, who finished with 15 points, Jihad, who finished with 13 points and Billingsley, who scored 11 points.
Northern Illinois 78, Buffalo 68
Boxscore
BUFFALO, N.Y. – David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) scored a new career-high 37 points while Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia/Seward County CC) posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team toppled Buffalo, 78-68, on Friday night (March 8) at Alumni Arena in the season finale for both teams.
Zion Russell (Upper Marlboro, Md./National Christian Academy) recorded a new career-high 14 points with Ethan Butler (Toronto, Ontario/Oregon) grabbed 11 rebounds as the Huskies shot 48.1 percent (13-of-27) in the second half to pull away from the Bulls.
Coit had a pair of triples and Ibarguen also had a half-dozen points as the Huskies led by four, 16-12, six minutes to the contest.
Buffalo trimmed the Huskie advantage to one before a dunk from Butler and a fast break layup by Russell helped the NIU lead grow to 20-15 with 12 minutes to play in the opening half.
The Bulls responded with a 17-2 run as Buffalo took a 32-22 lead with 6:38 left before the break.
NIU scored the next seven as a basket by Coit, a triple from Butler and a pair of free throws from Russell pulled the Huskies within three, 32-29, with 4:30 left in the half.
The Huskies then closed the opening stanza on a 9-3 run, with all nine coming from Coit, as NIU took a 38-37 lead into halftime.
Coit scored 17 points to lead NIU in the first 20 minutes, Ryan Sabol had 17 to pace Buffalo. The Bulls were 8-of-16 from three-point range in the opening half.
NIU scored the first four to open the second half as the Huskies pushed their lead to five. After a basket by Buffalo, a trifecta from Coit and a dunk by Ibarguen, off a feed from Coit, gave the Huskies a 47-39 lead with 16:28 to play.
Coit finished with a game-high six assists to go along with his 37 points.
In front by four, Coit scored five-straight to push the NIU advantage to 52-43 with 12:46 remaining.
Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Fraschels, Switzerland/Ursping) scored to extend the run to seven before the Huskies made five-straight free throws, four from Coit, as the lead reached 59-43 with 11:11 to go.
Konan Niederhauser finished with eight points and six rebounds.
Buffalo answered with a 12-2 run, trimming the visitors advantage back to a half-dozen, 61-55.
The NIU advantage was still six when Russell knocked in a corner triple with just over four minutes to play, giving the Huskies a 66-57 lead.
Buffalo trimmed the deficit to five, but Coit made another basket, and the Huskies went 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) from the free-throw line in the second half to close out the road victory, and the season sweep of the Bulls.
NIU held Buffalo to just 36 percent (9-of-25) shooting in the second half and 39.7 percent (23-of-58) in the contest.
Sabol finished with 22 points for Buffalo, Jonnivius Smith netted 10 points for the Bulls.
With the win, NIU finishes the season with an 11-20 mark, 5-13 in Mid-American Conference play. Buffalo ends the season with a 4-27 record, 2-16 in league play.
Ohio 72, Miami 59
Boxscore
OXFORD, Ohio – Led by 20-point performances from sophomore forward Aidan Hadaway and graduate student guard Shereef Mitchell, the Ohio men's basketball team (19-12, 13-5 MAC) wrapped up the regular season on Friday night (March 8), defeating Miami (15-16, 9-9 MAC), 72-59, inside Millett Hall.
Overall, Ohio shot 38.5 percent from the field, 36.0 percent from three and went 13-of-20 from the line, while Miami shot 36.8 percent from the field, 40.9 percent from three and were 8-of-17 from the line. Miami out-rebounded Ohio 44-40, while the Bobcats grabbed 17 offensive rebounds. Both teams dished out 11 assists, while the Bobcats forced 18 Miami turnovers and had 12 steals.
Individually, Mitchell (Omaha, Neb.) finished with 20 points, 7-of-16 from the field, 2-of-5 from three and grabbed eight rebounds and dished out two assists. Hadaway (Lafayette, Ga.) also scored 20 points, going 7-of-14 from the field, 4-of-8 from three and grabbed six rebounds. Junior forward AJ Clayton (Roseville, Ohio) scored nine points, had five rebounds, and recorded two blocks, while senior guard Jaylin Hunter (Manchester, Conn.) scored seven points, dished out seven assists, had five rebounds and snagged four steals. Sophomore guard Ajay Sheldon (Dublin, Ohio) finished the game with seven points and five steals.
Ohio won the tip, but Miami got on the board first with a three. After Hadaway matched it with a three of his own, the two teams traded baskets before Miami took a 10-5 lead going into the first media timeout. After a three from redshirt sophomore forward Ike Cornish (Baltimore, Md.) cut the Ohio deficit to two, Miami matched it with a three of their own to take a 17-12 lead with 7:45 remaining in the half.
After Miami took a 27-14 lead, back-to-back layups from Mitchell and Hunter cut the deficit to nine entering the final media timeout of the half. Out of the timeout over the remaining two and a half minutes, a steal by Hunter that resulted in a Hadaway three, started an 8-0 run for the Bobcats that cut the Miami lead to one. In total, the Bobcats' 12-0 run sent Ohio to halftime trailing 27-26.
At the half, Ohio shot 25 percent from the field, 25 percent from three and were 5-of-9 from the line, while Miami shot 40 percent from the field, 40 percent from three and were 3-of-4 from the line. Ohio out-rebounded Miami, 24-20, with 13 offensive rebounds to the RedHawks four. Ohio also dished out four assists and forced 10 Miami turnovers.
Hadaway led the Bobcats at the half with 10 points, followed by Mitchell with five points and five rebounds, and Cornish with five points and three rebounds.
After Miami opened the second half getting called for a technical, Ohio tied the game up at 27-27. Moments later, back-to-back threes from Hadaway gave the Bobcats a 33-30 lead early in the second half. After Miami cut the Ohio lead to one, four-straight points from James, a three from Mitchell and a dunk from Clayton increased the Ohio lead to 42-35, forcing Miami to burn a timeout with 15:10 remaining in the game.
After Miami hit a three to cut the Ohio lead to four, a jumper from Mitchell and a steal and a dunk from Hunter put Ohio up eight, forcing Miami to call their second timeout of the half. Ohio continued their roll out of the timeout with a layup from Sheldon and a three from Clayton, increased the Bobcats' lead to 51-38 with 11:58 remaining in the game.
After another jumper from Mitchell and free throws from Clayton after another Miami technical increased the Ohio lead to 18, Miami hit back-to-back layups, before another jumper from Mitchell put Ohio up 58-42 with 7:57 left in the game. After Miami cut the Ohio lead to 14, back-to-back threes from Mitchell and Sheldon helped put the Bobcats up 66-47 with five minutes to go in the half.
Over the remaining few minutes, Miami was unable to capitalize on free throws, while a a dunk from Hadaway helped put Ohio up 70-54 with a minute to go. Over the remaining few minutes, Miami was able to cut the Ohio lead to 13, but the Bobcats hold on to take the game, 72-59.
For Miami, four RedHawks scored and double figures.
Up next, the Bobcats open play at the 2024 Mid-American Conference Tournament on Thursday, Match 14 inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
Toledo 86, Kent State 71
Boxscore
TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball team continued its historical run Friday night by capturing its fourth consecutive outright Mid-American Conference title with an 86-71 victory over Kent State before 6,520 fans in Savage Arena. The Rockets (20-11, 14-4 MAC) are just the second program ever to win four straight league titles, joining the University of Cincinnati which won four straight (1948-51) in the infancy of the conference.
Toledo entered the day tied for first place with Akron (21-10, 13-15). However, the Zips dropped a 90-84 decision at Western Michigan earlier in the evening to give UT the opportunity take sole possession of another crown.
The Rockets will be the No. 1 seed in next week's MAC Tournament and will meet the No. 8 Golden Flashes (15-16, 8-10 MAC) again in a quarterfinal match-up on Thursday, March 14 at 11:00 a.m. in Cleveland's Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. For more information or to purchase MAC Tournament tickets, please visit utrockets.com/mactournament.
Juniors Ra'Heim Moss and Dante Maddox Jr. led Toledo offensively with 21 and 18 points, respectively. The duo was joined in double figures by junior Andre Lorentsson (13 pts.) and redshirt freshman Javan Simmons (10 pts.).
Simmons also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds to help the Rockets to a 35-34 advantage on the glass.
Toledo was efficient offensively with a 51.8 FG%, a 41.7 three-point FG% (10-of-24) and an 81.8 FT%. The Rockets also collected 17 assists with Moss dishing out a team-high seven.
UT limited Kent State to a 42.4 shooting mark and a 34.8% clip from three-point range.
Toledo never trailed in the contest and held a 36-26 halftime advantage. The Rockets' largest lead in the contest was 17 points.
Toledo jumped out to a 15-7 lead in the opening seven minutes with Ra'Heim Moss accounting for seven points.
Kent State countered with a 9-2 run that cut the Rockets' lead to 17-16 with 9:45 left in the half.
Back-to-back layups by Tyler Cochran and an and-one from Moss keyed a 7-1 run that increased Toledo's lead to 28-20.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Marko Maletic and Andre Lorentsson upped the lead to 36-24 with a minute left.
Toledo took a 36-26 lead into the locker room after shooting 13-of-28 (46.4%) from the floor and holding KSU to just 9-of-28 shooting (32.1%).
Moss led all scorers with 12 points and added four assists in the opening 20 minutes.
KSU opened the half with a 9-3 run capped by a three-pointer off an offensive rebound by Mike Bekelja to trim the Rocket advantage to 39-35.
Toledo answered with a 7-0 run with Dante Maddox hitting a layup and a three-pointer that made it a 46-35 game and forced KSU to call timeout with 17:30 left.
Toledo's lead grew to 13 points on a Moss triple and then fluctuated between eight and 12 points over the next nine minutes.
The Rockets' lead grew to 72-57 when Lorentsson hit a three-pointer and Javan Simmons converted one free throw after being fouled on the play with 7:54 left.
Kent State was never able to close to within double digits for the remainder of the game.
Western Michigan 90, Akron 84
Boxscore
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Trailing by as many as 17 late in the first half on Friday evening, the Western Michigan men's basketball team rallied to outscore Akron 59-39 in the second half and claim a 90-84 victory on its Senior Night at University Arena. The win sealed a berth for WMU in next week's Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland for the first time since the 2019-20 season.
Trailing 53-40 four minutes into the second half, Western Michigan (12-19, 9-9 MAC) used an 18-4 surge to storm back and take its first lead of the evening, 58-57, with 11:11 on the clock. Moments later with the game even at 61-61, Javonte Brown made a layup to begin a 7-0 run to put the Broncos in front, 68-61, as the clock ticked into the final six minutes.
Akron (21-10, 13-5) closed the gap to 68-64, but WMU answered with another eight consecutive points, including back-to-back dunks by Titus Wright and Anthony Crump, to boost the margin to 76-64. The Zips inched a little bit closer with some three-pointers while the Broncos made their free throws at the other end, but the visitors drew no closer than six for the remainder of the contest.
B. Artis White paced the five Western Michigan players in double-figures with 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 5-of-8 on three-pointers. Brown totaled 16 points on 7-of-9 from the floor, Wright and Seth Hubbard tallied 13 points apiece, and JaVaughn Hannah added 12.
The Broncos had a healthy 39-28 rebounding advantage in the contest, with Owen Lobsinger's nine boards leading the charge. Jefferson De La Cruz Monegro collected seven rebounds and Crump added six to the WMU cause.
Akron held the lead for the majority of the first half, with the visitors using runs of 8-0 and 10-0 to build a 34-19 margin with just over four minutes remaining in the opening stanza. The Zips led by as many as 17, 41-24, in the opening frame and took a 45-31 margin into the locker room.
The Broncos shot 50.9 percent (29-of-57) from the field for the night, and hit field goals at a 63.0 percent (17-of-27) clip in the second half. Western Michigan made a season-high 26 free throws on 35 attempts (74.3 percent). Akron connected on 50.8 percent (32-of-63) from the floor in the contest.
Before the game, Western Michigan honored Alika Edmonds, Anthony Crump, Titus Wright and B. Artis White as a part of its Senior Night celebration.
