Saturday’s Men’s Basketball Results
Akron 104, Western Michigan 89
Bowling Green 85, Eastern Michigan 79
Miami 105, Buffalo 102 (OT)
Northern Illinois 70, UMass 68
Recaps courtesy of MAC Athletic Communications Departments
Akron 104, Western Michigan 89
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio - The Akron men's basketball team recorded its 26th consecutive win at James A. Rhodes Arena while making 20 3s in a 104-89 victory against the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday.
The Zips (14-4, 5-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Tavari Johnson, who had 32 points, eight assists and three steals. Shammah Scott tacked on 23 points and five assists off of the bench, Amani Lyles chipped in with 14 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks, while Bowen Hardman scored 12 points on a 4-of-6 shooting performance from deep.
The Zips went 20-of-35 from 3-point range, tying a program record for made 3's in a game. The Blue and Gold were electric from beyond the arc, connecting on 57.1 percent of their 3's against the Broncos.
Akron took advantage of fantastic ball movement in Saturday's game, piling up 23 assists on 38 made field goals. Johnson's eight assists paced the Zips. Johnson recorded his 12th game this season with five or more assists.
After falling behind 6-4, Akron went on a 9-0 run with 17:46 left in the first half to take a 13-6 lead. The Zips then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 52-51 advantage. Akron relied on its three-point shooting in the period, knocking down 11 shots to account for 33 of its 52 points.
Western Michigan proceeded to take a 58-52 lead before Akron went on a 13-0 run, finished off by Scott's layup, to seize a 65-58 lead with 13:56 to go in the contest. The Zips kept expanding the margin and coasted the rest of the way for the 104-89 win. Akron shot well from three-point range in the half, hitting nine shots from deep to score 27 of its 52 points.
Akron hits the road to battle Buffalo on Tuesday, January 20, for a 6:30 p.m. start.
Bowling Green 85, Eastern Michigan 79
Box Score
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green State University men's basketball team fought back in the final minutes to defeat Eastern Michigan, 85-79, Saturday (Jan. 17) at the Stroh Center. The Falcons worked to build a 21-point lead, but the Eagles worked their way back for a second half lead. Over the final four minutes, Bowling Green outscored Eastern Michigan 11-1 to reclaim the lead and the victory. The win moves BGSU to 12-6 on the season while being 3-3 within the MAC.
Mayar Wol led the way for the Orange and Brown with 25 points, including 19 in the first half. Javontae Campbell followed with 18 points and a team-leading five assists. Josiah Shackelford (13 points) and Javon Ruffin (12) added to the double-digit scorers. The list rounded out with Troy Glover II posting his second double-double of the season, finishing with 10 points, a team-high 10 rebounds and four blocks.
The Falcons won the opening tip and tallied the first points with Troy Glover II working for a second chance bucket. Javontae Campbell kept it going for a 4-0 BGSU start before the first EMU basket.
Javon Ruffin hit a three, but the Eagles pulled within one. A jumper from Mayar Wol, a layup from Ruffin and a dunk from Campbell created a 13-8 advantage for the Falcons at the first media timeout. EMU added a pair of points before the next break for a 13-10 score.
Out of the break, Eastern Michigan again pulled within one, but the Falcons responded with two free throws from Wol plus a Glover and-one for a 5-0 run. EMU stopped the run, but a three from Wol and layups from Ruffin and Wol built a 25-16 lead at the media timeout. Wol completed an and-one after the timeout before later hitting back-to-back threes after an Eastern Michigan basket for a 32-18 advantage at the media timeout.
The two went back-and-forth after the break. Wol hit a three with a Camden Karel layup adding to the total before another three, this time from Ruffin, resulting in a 40-30 score at the final media timeout of the first half. The two teams traded baskets to the end of the half. Jumpers from Josiah Shackelford and Ruffin tallied BGSU points before a dunk by Shackelford for the final points of the half for a 46-36 halftime score.
Sam Towns opened the second half with a three for the Falcons. Wol followed with a three and the foul for a four-point play. A jumper from Campbell stretched the second half start for BGSU to 9-0 with EMU taking a timeout, trailing 55-36. The Falcons added a second chance basket from Wol, but an 11-0 EMU run followed for a 57-47 score, resulting in a BGSU timeout that doubled as the under-16 media timeout.
Glover broke the run out of the timeout with an and-one dunk, but the Eagles answered with a three of their own. Campbell added two at the line, but four points for EMU cut the score to 64-56 at the under-12 media timeout.
Eastern Michigan continued to chip away, tying the score at 65-65 with BGSU's tally being a free throw from Shackelford. Towns later drove for a layup, but Eastern Michigan worked for a 70-67 lead at the under-8 media timeout.
EMU increased their lead to 72-67, but the Falcons fought back. Campbell hit a three to pull within a possession before Glover threw down an alley-oop from Campbell, matching an Eastern Michigan basket. Each team added two at the line with Shackelford making BGSU's with the Eagles holding a 78-74 lead at the final media timeout.
Out of the break, Campbell went on a 5-0 run, making two from the field and adding a free throw, to put the Falcons in front 79-78 to force an EMU timeout. After the timeout, the Eagles made one at the line to tie, but a Campbell layup reclaimed the lead. Shackelford added four free throws down the stretch to claim the 85-79 final.
The Falcons will be on the road for their next two games, beginning in Kalamazoo on Tuesday (Jan. 20) with a 7 p.m. tip against Western Michigan. From there, BGSU will move to the Battle of I-75 on Jan. 24, taking on the rival Rockets in a 5 p.m. tip at Savage Arena. The next home game for BGSU will be on Jan. 27, hosting Buffalo.
Miami 105, Buffalo 102 (OT)
Box Score
OXFORD, Ohio – The Miami University men's basketball team (19-0, 7-0 MAC) secured a 105-102 overtime victory against Buffalo (13-5, 3-3 MAC) Saturday afternoon on a three-pointer by Peter Suder with just over a second remaining. Suder led all players with a season-high 37 points, while four more RedHawks scored in double digits. Luke Skaljac (18 points and 10 assists) and Antwone Woolfolk (12 points and 11 rebounds) each recorded a double-double for the first time this season. Angelo Brizzi totaled 24 points to the lead the Bulls in scoring. With this win, the RedHawks have now matched the best start for a program in MAC history (originally set by WMU in 1975-76 at 19-0).
The RedHawks opened the game with numerous layups to get ahead 9-7, with one leading to a traditional three-point play after Skaljac was fouled. A pair of threes from Suder pushed the score to 17-14 in favor of the Red and White. The Bulls regained the lead at 22-21 before Suder used two triples to fend off the Buffalo attack at 31-26 with 9:02 remaining before the break.
The Bulls went on to grab a 39-33 advantage before Skaljac drove down the left lane for an uncontested layup and Almar Atlason buried a deep shot to shrink the deficit to just one point. A midrange jump shot from Skaljac, as well as back-to-back shots from behind the three-point line from Brant Byers and Suder, evened the score at 46 apiece. Buffalo entered halftime ahead 48-46.
The RedHawks and Bulls exchanged a flurry of shots from behind the arc, as Suder knocked down his fifth and sixth threes to put the hosts on top 55-54. With the score tied at 61-61, Woolfolk tipped in a missed shot. Suder bullied his way into the paint for a shot off the glass, and Skaljac recorded a steal that eventually led to a layup for Woolfolk at 67-64 with 11:20 to play.
Leading 69-68, the RedHawks ripped off a 6-0 run, highlighted by a Justin Kirby transition dunk that forced a Buffalo timeout and brought all of the fans inside of Millett Hall to their feet. Buffalo fought its way back into it and regained a lead at 78-77. The visitors looked to pull away at 84-79 when Suder flew down the lane for a layup plus the foul to come within two at 84-82. Trailing 88-85 with seconds remaining, Byers batted out a missed shot for an offensive rebound to Eian Elmer for a dramatic three as the game clock expired to knot the score at 88-88 and force overtime.
Elmer began extra play with yet another triple from the top of the arc, and Skaljac spun baseline to get a layup at 93-92. Two free throws from Skaljac and a traditional three-point play from Byers extended Miami's lead to 98-92. With just 19 seconds left, Buffalo tied the game up at 102-102. The RedHawks had possession of the ball for a last shot, and Suder went on to drill a game-winning three to fuel the RedHawks past the Bulls at 105-102.
Miami heads to Kent State on Tuesday, Jan. 20 at 7 p.m.
Northern Illinois 70, UMass 68
Box Score
DEKALB, Ill. – Makhai Valentine (Munhall, Pa./Steel Valley) tied his career-high with 27 points as the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team held on to top UMass, 70-68, on Saturday afternoon (Jan. 17) at the NIU Convocation Center. Hassan 'Tre' Washington (Providence, R.I./Prise Academy) added 11 points while Gianni Cobb (Chicago, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor) had eight points, six assists and six steals.
NIU (6-11, 2-4 MAC) led for more than 30 minutes but found itself trailing by two, 66-64, inside the final four minutes of the contest. Two free throws from both Gustav Winther (Roskilde, Denmark) and Dylan Ducommun (Geneva, Switzerland) put the Huskies back in front, 68-66, with 3:16 left.
The visitors then went to the free-throw line on back-to-back possessions but made just 1-of-4 free throws as NIU led by one with two minutes to play. After both teams had empty trips, Taj Walters (Bronx, N.Y./Moravian Prep) split a pair at the line, giving NIU a 69-67 lead with 30 seconds to play.
UMass (11-8, 2-5 MAC) came up empty again and Cobb went to the line with 18 seconds left. He split a pair as the Huskie lead grew to 70-67. On the next possession, UMass turned down a look at a three and Jayden Ndjigue was fouled at the rim with 5.5 seconds to play.
Ndjigue made his first free throw, missed the second and the rebound was tapped around by other teams until the horn sounded as NIU survived for the victory.
Leonardo Bettilo led the way for UMass with 25 points, Marcus Banks added 16 and K'Jei Parker chipped in 15 points.
Tied at 10 a little over five minutes into the contest, Daemar Kelly (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) knocked down a triple from the wing to put the Huskies in front by three. Cobb added a free throw as the Huskies took a 14-10 lead with 14:04 to play in the opening half.
Leading by a pair, 23-21, Washington had back-to-back layups to push the NIU advantage to a half-dozen, 27-21, with 5:40 left before the intermission.
Valentine extended the NIU run to 7-0 with three free throws, giving the Huskies a 30-21 lead with 4:48 remaining in the opening stanza.
A Valentine triple started a 5-0 burst for the Huskies as NIU went in front by a dozen, 38-26, on a pair of free throws from Walters with 1:43 to play in the half.
UMass answered with the next five however and the visitors trimmed the gap to seven, 40-33, at the break. Valentine had 13 points in the opening 20 minutes for NIU while COBB had six assists and three steals. Banks led the Minutemen with 11 points.
The Minutemen scored first to open the second half, cutting the NIU lead to five.
NIU's lead was eight, 45-37, after a triple from Valentine, but UMass then went on a 7-0 run to cut the Huskie advantage to just one, 45-44, with 14:59 to play. The Huskies led by three before a UMass triple evened the game at 50 with 12:17 remaining.
The visitors took their first lead of the second half, 54-52, with 9:29 to play, but NIU responded with the next six. Winther opened the run with a dunk, Cobb made a pair of free throws and Valentine had an explosive tip-dunk to give NIU a 58-54 lead with just over eight minutes left.
Out of a timeout, the NIU run extended to 8-0 as Valentine got a steal and a layup, giving the Huskies a 60-54 advantage. UMass answered with the next six to even the contest at 60 with 5:30 left.
NIU forced 18 turnovers in the contest, converting them into 24 points, while UMass scored just eight points off 14 NIU miscues.
The Huskies will go on the road for the next two, traveling to Ohio (Jan. 20) and Ball State (Jan. 24) before returning home to host Western Michigan on Tuesday, Jan. 27.
