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MAC East Basketball Report

MAC basketball weekend recap

Buffalo 68, Ohio 66

A slew of Ohio mistakes and flurry of Buffalo points late in the game spoiled the Bobcats’ hopes of a senior day win.

Ohio led by 10 with three and a half minutes to go but the Bulls answered back. The final 2:43 of the game can be summed up by the following stats:

• Points: Buffalo 10, Ohio 0
• Turnovers: Ohio 3, Buffalo 0
• Free throws: Buffalo: 3-4, Ohio: 0-3

Buffalo took advantage of Ohio’s miscues and kept cutting down the deficit until Rodney Pierce drowned a clutch three with 27 seconds left to give Buffalo a 67-66 lead. On Ohio’s next possession, senior Michael Allen drew the foul and went to the line to tie or give the Bobcats the lead. He missed both free throws.

It was a tough final stretch for the senior point guard who is usually very dependable. In the final minutes, Allen first missed the first of a one-and-one opportunity at 2:41, then a jumper at 48 seconds, both free throws with eight seconds left and after Jerome Tillman rebounded his miss, turned it over on the inbound pass with three seconds left. That has to be an extremely painful finish for Allen on his senior day at the Convo.

Rodney Pierce carried the Bulls, scoring 27 points and getting eight rebounds. As has been the problem for the Bobcats much of the season, they could not stop one guy all day (see Mincy, Jordan or Amos, Jonathan). Calvin Betts also contributed 12 points for a Buffalo team that fixed its shooting woes, going 47.7 percent from the field. For the Bobcats, Jerome Tillman was once again the leading scorer with 16 points. Justin Orr had 14 and Steven Coleman 13 on 4-4 shooting.

Big disparities in key statistics tell some of the story of this game. Rebounding is always an issue for Ohio and Buffalo pulled down 14 more (35-21). Buffalo was not amazing from the line (69%) but trumped Ohio who only made 13 of 25 (52%). The Bulls had five more turnovers but executed much better than Ohio when it counted in the end.

For Ohio, this game is déjà vu. Almost the same scenario occurred at home against Bowling Green earlier in the season. In that game, down one, DeVaughn Washington missed two free throws to tie or give the Bobcats the lead with 21 seconds left, just as Sunday, down one, Michael Allen missed two free throws to do the same. Ohio has not executed well at the end of games this season and this is an instance where they could have won had they done so. Now, they are looking almost surely at having to win four games in five days in Cleveland.

Buffalo needed this win in the worst way to break a four game losing streak. The Bulls struggled through parts of this game but showed a lot of determination at the end to come back. Props to Rodney Pierce who made some excellent shots, even with a hand in his face, and the ultimate game-winner.

Bowling Green 50, Akron 46

Strong defense propelled the Falcons to a huge win in Akron, not an easy place to get a victory. Bowling Green held Akron to just 15-50 shooting (30 percent) and no Zip scored more than 8 points.

Two Falcons reached double figure points, with Brain Moten the leader at 17 and Darryl Clements scoring 12.

It was a close contest throughout but after coming back from an early ten-point deficit, Bowling Green only trailed once in the last twenty minutes. The score was at a stalemate, 46-45 Akron, from the 3:44 mark until 1:03 when Brian Moten made a huge three-pointer.

Akron had three chances on its next possession, down by two, 48-46. Brett McKnight missed a layup, Humpty Hitchens missed a jumper and Chris McKnight missed a layup, which was finally rebounded by a Falcon, Nate Miller. Moten dunked it with seven seconds left to put in the punctuation mark.

Bowling Green was able to overcome an absolutely atrocious 27.3 free throw shooting percentage (3-11) to find itself as the top team in the MAC, tied at 10-4 with Buffalo, who its beaten twice. I never really expected this team to emerge as the leader of the MAC but it’s that kind of year in the conference. The Falcons are only in the middle of the conference in terms of scoring offense (6 th) and scoring defense (5th) but 2 nd in field goal defense percentage (just behind Akron).

Akron played the type of game it wanted to at home but did not end up the winner. That can be attributed to a poor shooting display, and like Ohio, an inability to make a shot at the end of the game in your own gym. The Thursday night home game against Ohio is one Akron will probably need to win if it wants a bye. You do not want your opportunity to earn a bye to be dependent on winning a rivalry game at Kent State or getting help from other teams.

Miami 68, Akron 63

Senior Michael Bramos took his struggling team on his back and carried it to victory. Bramos scored a season-high 34 points, as Miami ends its three-game skid.

It was all about Bramos, who scored half of his team’s points on 10-17 shooting (4-7 from three) and 10-12 free throw shooting. Miami was also all about its starting five Sunday. The group of Bramos, Tyler Dierkers, Adam Fletcher, Carl Richburg and Antonio Ballard all logged 33 minutes or more. Bramos’ performance was assisted by Tyler Dierkers’s double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) and Antonio Ballard’s 13 points and 6 rebounds. An impressive outing also comes from point guard Carl Richburg, who struggled against Ohio. He had nine of Miami’s ten assists.

The turning point of the game came with 3:34 left. The two went into the second half tied at 30 and from there on it was back-and-forth, close basketball. However, Michael Bramos’ three at 3:34 to go gave the Redhawks the lead and began an 8-0 run that Kent State would not come back from.

Miami gave up over 60 which is usually not good for them but their offense was clicking enough to make up. Tyree Evans’ 15 points off the bench led the way for Kent State and once again Jordan Mincy had a very good game with 14 points and 4 steals. The senior has come out of the shadows in the last month and put together some nice performances.

Another to emerge even more out of nowhere in this particular game is 6-8 forward Justin Greene. The freshman averages just 2 PPG and 1.9 RPG but scored 10 and rebounded 6 against Miami. Greene is another freshman, along with Anthony Simpson, who may be a positive piece in the Flashes’ future.

Key figure: Miami went to the line 27 times, while Kent State made only 11 trips. For whatever reason it seems that MAC teams go to the line a whole lot more at home than they do on the road. The Redhawks made 18 of their 27; the Flashes only four of their 11 attempts.

This was a win that Miami had to have at Millet in the closing stretch of the season. Michael Bramos carried this team to victory; any time a player scores half its team’s points that is pretty obvious. It was one of Bramos’ better shooting performances in a while. His shot total is high every game but Sunday they were falling. He won’t score 34 every game but more consistent shooting from Bramos will go along way for the Redhawks.

Kent State is a streaky team. It won eight in a row after having lost three in a row and they have now lost two straight. The Flashes have the advantage of the final two games being in Kent. Chris Singletary cannot have a repeat of his five point, four turnover, five foul day against Miami though.

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Thursday MAC East Forecast

Every game is huge, as what goes down in each team’s last two contests will shape the bracket for Cleveland.

• Bowling Green at Miami - At home, Miami should carry the momentum of its Sunday win, as the Falcons play another road game. This is going to be low scoring and the outcome will depend on which team gets the better of the defensive battle.
• Ohio at Akron - Ohio has not won in Akron since 2001-02 and has won two games on the road this season. Akron is home again and coming off a loss. Not good news for the Bobcats.
• Buffalo at Kent State -The way things have played out in this division, I truly expect the outcome that causes the most parody to occur. So, the fifth place team should beat the team tied for first. Kent State won the first time in Buffalo and has to win to keep realistic bye hopes alive.

By Connor Kiesel
VanDelay Sports Staff Writer
Published March 2, 2009