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MAC East Mid-Week Report

MAC basketball mid-week recap from January 29, 2009

The weekend finished up the first go-around of MAC East play. Each East team has played each other and now cross-division play begins, so I’ll take a look at where each of the East stand.

Saturday MAC East Snapshot

Akron 68, Kent State 54: A contest that would leave the loser in a tough position; that is now Kent State. Brett McKnight was the knight in very shiny armor on this night (well, day but night just caps that off). McKnight scored 29 points, shooting a near perfect 10-11 from the field. Brother Chris also added 11 in Akron’s column. In the loss for Kent State comes a monster game from freshman Anthony Simpson. He put up 16 points and pulled down 16 rebounds. Chris Singletary was back from injury and scored 10 points.

Bowling Green 52, Ohio 51: Neither team was very impressive but someone had to win. It came down to who played better in the final minutes and that was Bowling Green. Daryl Clements carried the Falcons to victory first sinking a DEEP three as the shot clock expired and then hitting what would be the game-winning jumper. Clements finished the day with 7 points and 8 rebounds. Ohio’s DeVaughn Washington had an opportunity to tie or give the Bobcats a lead but missed two free throws with the score at 52-51. Two last chance lobs to Jerome Tillman were thwarted by Bowling Green and Ohio fell, shooting a putrid 26.5% in front of a home crowd of over 10,000.

Buffalo 76, Miami 64: Buffalo shot 50% and had four double-digit scorers in route to a win that left them as the best in the East. Andy Robinson was the leader with 16 points off the bench. Rodney Pierce scored 13, Max Boudreau 12 and Titus Robinson 11. After missing seven games, Antonio Ballard is back for Miami and performing well, with 15 points and 7 boards. Michael Bramos once again led the Redhawks in points, with 18. Tyler Dierkers finished with 14 points and 4 rebounds. Buffalo’s play was just too good Saturday. The Bulls turned the ball over less than, outrebounded and shot better than Miami. There are still plenty of games left to play but this is a matchup you may see again in the late rounds in Cleveland.

Breaking It Down

Buffalo: 13-5 Overall, 5-1 Conference

No one in the MAC is playing as consistently good basketball as the Bulls. Their road win over Miami was another sign that this team is a contender. They followed that up with another road win, taking Western Michigan 74-71 behind Rodney Pierce’s 21 points.

Why they are where they are: Minutes are spread around and a bunch of guys contribute. If someone is off, there always seems to be another player there to step up. Pierce, Calvin Betts, Andy Robinson and Greg Gamble are all scoring guards. 6-7 Titus Robinson is only a freshman but has shown he can put up numbers when he gets double-digit minutes. Max Boudreau has scored 12 in the past two games.

Prospects: A very deep team with a strong core of players that can share the wealth, the Bulls are very dangerous.

Miami: 10-7 Overall, 4-2 Conference

The Redhawks trounced Northern Illinois 80-52 Wednesday. Antonio Ballard continued his string of good games, leading Miami with 14 points. Michael Bramos contributed 13 points and 8 rebounds and Tyler Dierkers 9 points and 8 rebounds.

Why they are where they are: Miami is the best defensive team in the league and their strong D keeps them in games. Bramos is the senior leader and the team really goes by him. If he’s struggling from offense, the Redhawks struggle. Bramos has not been as prolific from the field this season, shooting a little over 39% from the field and three. The season ending injury to Kenny Hayes has left Miami without a senior leader at the point and a concrete second scoring option. Antonio Ballard and Tyler Dierkers have stepped up as of late. Miami needs to find more punch off the bench. Freshman Julian Mavunga has shown flashes.

Prospects: Miami should make easy work of the less than stellar West. The real test of their moxie will come when they go on the road to face their two top enemies, Buffalo and Ohio, who each won at Millett.

Akron: 12-8 Overall, 3-3 Conference

Led by its advantage in bench and points off turnovers, the Zips won their first against the MAC West Wednesday, defeating Toledo 70-61. Brett McKnight had another good performance, as did guard Daryl Roberts who each scored 12. The Freshman Nikola Cvetinovic produced a quality 20 minutes, putting up 11 points. Akron was money from the line, hitting 80% of free throws.

Why they are where they are: Akron is led by the McKnight brothers and its success is very much dependent on their performance. Humpty Hitchens has had ups and downs but as a freshman point guard shows signs of being a good one. Keith Dambrot is a good coach and Akron is one of many in the mix in the middle of the MAC East.

Prospects: Look for the Zips to play better in the second half of the MAC slate. They struggle on offense but the McKnights provide inside scoring that most of the MAC cannot really matchup with. Akron has been to its fair share of conference championship games, a testament to Dambrot, and with this team it will take some work but a run should not be ruled out with the strong interior.

Bowling Green: 10-9 Overall, 3-3 Conference

The big man Otis Polk nudged in more than a few Wednesday night. Polk scored a season-high 13, hitting all five of his field goals, and also contributed 6 rebounds in Bowling Green’s 62-58 win over Ball State. The Falcons have had struggles down low offensively but Polk did the job against the Cardinals. They shot 50% from the field, well above their season average of 42.3%.

Why they are where they are: Bowling Green plays a good defensive game but has been severely hindered by offensive woes. It could not find the groove against Akron and even against Ohio, did not win based on offense. The win over Buffalo looks good even though they let the Bulls come back in the second half. The Falcons need more production from Chris Knight, who scored 22 in the big win over Buffalo.

Prospects: Bowling Green can be summed up as consistently average. The Falcons average a couple more points per game than they allow. With Nate Miller now starting, Brian Moten, last season’s sixth man of the year needs to provide a scoring punch off the bench. Louis Orr’s team plays tight defense but they are not dynamic enough offensively to knock off the best of the MAC east. They’ll win some but in the end there is not enough punch.

Ohio: 10-9 Overall, 3-3 Conference

Due to the winter storm, the Bobcats could not get to Mount Pleasant for the scheduled Wednesday meeting. It was played instead Thursday and the Bobcats did not get the result they wanted. Poor defense hindered Ohio as they fell 76-69 to Central Michigan. The Chippewas had four double-digit scorers (Jacolby Hardiman had 20) and shot 57% FG. Sophomore DeVaughn Washington had a huge night in the loss, recording a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

Why they are where they are: It was a promising start to MAC competition for the Bobcats but fortunes have quickly floundered. After the road win at Miami, Ohio was looking like a contender. But after losing three out of four and their one win of those an escape over Akron, the Bobcats are now in the messy middle of the MAC. Senior Justin Orr is in a real shooting slump. He has made just 14 of his last 58 shots. The problem for the Bobcats is that the MAC has figured out how to beat them. Contain Jerome Tillman and stop the role players. With Tillman held pretty well in check since the Miami win the Bobcat supporting cast has not stepped up.

Prospects: The Bobcats need to consistently play hard-nosed defense. They are having a lot of offensive difficulties as of late and just lobbing it into Tillman in the paint is not going to work. Ohio needs a young player like Tommy Freeman, Steven Coleman or DeVaughn Washington to emerge as a true scorer that teams need to turn attention to. It’s John Groce’s first season and the Bobcats are not the deepest team. Anyone could get hot late but the Bobcats need to turn it around or risk falling out of the race before their next shot at the MAC East.

Kent State: 9-11 Overall, 2-4 Conference

A reeling Flashes squad was desperate for a win and got it Tuesday in a win that shows the worst of the MAC East is a whole lot better than the worst of the MAC West. Kent State handled Eastern Michigan 68-46.

Why they are where they are: Kent State, for once, has not carried over the extreme success in this coaching change. Geno Ford has struggled with this team that has looked disorganized at times. However, the real problem is the overall talent level is not as high. The losses of Haminn Quanitance and Mike Scott have had a big impact. Although Al Fisher has played well again, Tyree Evans (now coming off the bench) has been streaky. Chris Singletary has helped as a pretty consistent scorer but the Flashes need even more from him. Kent State is most in need of a post presence. They have been dominated inside. Maybe freshman Anthony Simpson is the one who can fill that role adequately.

Prospects: This does not look like the Kent State teams of the past decade. Al Fisher is playing well but he can only carry this team so far. Inconsistent and lacking an enforcer inside, Kent State will need to sweep its West slate to gain some momentum and get a run going towards Cleveland. I’m not sure that’s going to happen though.

MAC East Beast of the Week: Rodney Pierce, Buffalo

Stellar week for the Bulls’ junior. 13 and 21 points in Bufallo’s consecutive road wins.

Wait, Really?: Defense is the key for the Ohio Bobcats. In games where they hold the opponent under 70, they are 10-1. In those that they’ve given up 70 or more: 0-8.

MAC Saturday Forecast

It’s Super Saturday as everyone is in action on the day before football’s big game.

Look for:

• Akron to take Central Michigan at home.
• Toledo, led by Tyrone Kent, to give Buffalo a better game than most would expect but the Bulls to prevail
• Ohio to struggle, having to play its second road game in three days at Ball State.
• Miami to crush Eastern Michigan.
• Western and Kent to be an interesting one, with the Broncos winning it by a few.
• Bowing Green’s D to shut down Northern Illinois.

By Connor Kiesel
VanDelay Sports Staff Writer