2021 Mid-American Conference MAC Men’s Basketball Game Recaps: March 2

For the most part, it looks like tonight’s slate of MACtion was fairly exciting. Two games were decided by a basket. One game required extra time to finish. One was within striking distance and another was a blow out.

• Central Michigan defeated the league-topping Toledo Rockets by two points in an 81-79 victory, which was decided on a Meikkel Murray layup with 2.3 seconds remaining. At the half, the Chippewas faced a 17-point deficit, rallying over the remainder to win the game with a total of 44 seconds holding a lead. The Rockets were led by Ryan Rollins with 17 points. The Chippewas were led by Caleb Huffman with 26 points. Toledo clinched the regular season title despite the loss, due to other scores in the conference.
• Buffalo was able to squeeze past Akron by a final score of 80-78. Loren Cristian Jackson would lead the Zips with 27 points. Josh Mballa would lead the Bulls with 15 points.
• Western Michigan sailed over Northern Illinois by a score of 73-63. B. Artis White would lead the Broncos with 15 points, while the Huskies leading scorer was Tyler Cochran with 19 points.
• Eastern Michigan proved to be little trouble for Ball State as they got pummeled by a final score of 100-65. Ball State was ahead 50-22 at the half, with the deficit only ballooning from there. Ball State’s K.J. Walton would lead the Cardinals with 32 points. Ty Groce would score 21 points for the Eagles.
• The most exciting game of the night was the Miami-Bowling Green game. It would take an extra stanza for the Miami Redhawks to emerge triumphant over the Bowling Green Falcons by a final score of 84-79. The end of regulation in the game was mired in controversy, as the Falcons had seemingly won the contest on a Caleb Fields layup as the clock read triple zeroes. However, after official review, it was ultimately ruled he didn’t make it in time. The Redhawks would go on to win the overtime period by a 10-5 margin. Dalonte Brown would sink 29 points for the Redhawks to lead all scorers. Trey Diggs and Daequon Plowden would share scoring honors for the Falcons as each put up 19 points.

Friday night will bring a full slate of games as the Mid-American Conference regular season comes to a close. Miami at Akron and Ball State at Toledo may prove interesting, as each game might have a chance to flip the seventh and eighth seeds. If Miami or Ball State win, the winner will become the seventh seed and the loser the eighth seed. The top eight spots have been determined though, with no other team being eligible unless there’s a COVID cancellation amongst the top eight teams.

Western Michigan, sitting ninth on the table, would be in the catbird seat, should a team be ruled ineligible.