Mid-American Conference Notebook
by Adam Trumble
The week in the Mid-American Conference saw conference
action kick-off, with Miami coming back to defeat
Western Michigan, 44-39, while East Division favored
Ohio fell at Toledo, 78-71. Also, Bowling Green
knocked off East Division opponent Buffalo 76-59 and
in the other MAC game Marshall defeated Northern
Illinois, 75-57.
Miami gets defensive
The Mid-American Conference football championship game
saw more scoring then the Miami/Western Michigan
basketball game Saturday. In the end, Miami held on to
a 44-39 point victory.
Danny Horace scored 13 points and grabbed a game-high
seven rebounds to open conference play.
Western Michigan (4-2, 0-1 MAC) led 17-16 at halftime
and kept a small lead through most of the second half.
The RedHawks (3-3, 1-0) then tied the game at 37-37 on
a layup by Matt Jameson with 3:47 remaining. Senior
guard Robby Collum then fouled Jameson, who made the
second of his two free throws and gave the RedHawks
their first lead in the second half at 38-37 with 2:51
remaining. Miami stayed ahead the rest of the way.
Collum led Western Michigan in scoring with 14 points.
Before the RedHawks knocked off Western Michigan they
defeated Atlantic-10 opponent Dayton, 78-63. Horace
scored a career-high 21 points, including five points
during a 17-0 run when Miami took control of the game
midway through the second half. The Flyers were held
scoreless for a seven minute stretch falling down by
15-point deficit.
East favored Bobcats drop conference opener
For the fifth straight time, the Ohio Bobcats came
away empty from Toledo’s Savage Hall. The Bobcats
dropped a 78-71 decision to the Rockets in an early
Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.
Toledo senior Keith Triplett scored a career-high 31
points. The junior guard shot 10-of-11 from the floor,
including 6-of-7 from three-point range.
Senior guard Nick Moore scored 14 points and Anton
Curry netted 12 while the Rockets (3-3, 1-0 MAC) were
paced on the glass by Milo Kirsh’s eight rebounds.
Ohio senior forward Brandon Hunter had a double-double
with 25 points and 13 rebounds in a losing fashion for
the Bobcats (1-2, 0-1 MAC). Jaivon Harris scored 14
points while Steve Esterkamp chipped in 13 for the
Bobcats.
A 13-8 run gave Toledo a 38-24 advantage at the half.
Ohio outscored the Rockets 47-40 in the second half,
shooting 60 percent from the field.
Falcons soar over Bulls
The Bowling Green State Falcons won the Mid-American
Conference season opener with a 76-59 victory over the
Buffalo Bulls.
The Falcons (2-1, 1-0) capitalized on Buffalo’s 18
first-half turnovers to take control of the game The
Falcons took an early 11-2 before going up by more
than 10-points and never looked back. BGSU built the lead up to as many as 24, before
coasting to the victory.
The Falcons were led by Kevin Netter who scored a
career-high 36 points. The junior center gave the
Bulls postmen fits all night as he was able to
establish position inside scoring or drawing fouls the
whole game. Twelve of Netter’s 36 points came from the
free throw line. John Reimold added 19 points,
including five three-pointers, for the Falcons.
Blackshear keeps scoring for Herd
Guard Ronald Blackshear scored 21 points and Monty
Wright added 18 points to lead Marshall to a 75-57
Mid-American Conference win at Northern Illinois
Saturday.
The Thundering Herd (3-1, 1-0 MAC) opened the game
with an 11-4 lead and managed to stave off several
Husky runs. Northern Illinois (3-4, 0-1 MAC) failed
to keep pace in the second half, however, as Marshall
distanced itself by limiting NIU to only 21 second
half points.
Blackshear finished the game 8 of 18 from the floor
and was only 2 of 5 from three-point range. The junior
added six rebounds, three assists, and a steal.
The Thundering Herd bounced back to beat Northern
Illinois after a difficult road performance in which
they lost 75-56 to Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights built
a 26-point lead in the first half and coasted to an
easy 19-point victory.
Rutgers forced 21 turnovers, while keeping Blackshear contained. Blackshear, who entered
the game averaging 27.5 points per game, finished the
night with a season-low 11 points and managed to hit
only four of 12 shots from the floor.
MAC Player of the Week:
Central Michigan junior center Chris Kaman. For the week, Kaman
averaged 24.0 points, 15.5 boards, 4.0 blocks, and 1.5 steals
per game. He shot .857 (18-for-21) from the floor and
.800 (12-for-13) from the line.
Against Michigan, he had 30 points and 21 rebounds, and was 11-for-13 on field goals and 8-for-9 free-throws, including 6-for-6 to seal the win in the final minute). Against Drake, he calmed down with a “mere” 18 points and 10 rebounds, shooting 7-for-8 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the line.
