Campus Watch

Catching up on some postseason honors that have been doled out while awaiting the start of the UB women's second-round MAC Tournament game against Miami here in Cleveland:

Ohio senior guard D.J. Cooper was named MAC Player of the Year today and Akron's Keith Dambrot was named Coach of the Year. I voted for both of them.

I was extremely high on UB's Javon McCrea but when the Bulls failed to finish .500 in conference I couldn't bring myself to cast the vote. And Cooper won me over with that go-ahead 3 he hit from Getzville in Ohio's 72-69 win at Alumni on March 5. Plus, Cooper will go down as one of the best guards in MAC history. It seemed kind of crazy he might leave never having won the award. So I'll admit it. Career achievement factored into my vote.

As for Dambrot, when you win the conference and put together a 19-game winning streak you don't leave much room for debate. Plus, I admired the way he responded to the Alex Abreu arrest that's probably going to cost the Zips an at-large if they don't win it all here.

The All-MAC first team consists of McCrea, Cooper, Akron center Zeke Marshall, Kent State forward Chris Evans and Toledo guard Rian Pearson. I believe that's exactly how I had it on my preseason ballot although ultimately Evans didn't make the preseason first-team.

UB's Jarryn Skeete was on the all-freshman team.

On the women's side, UB had two players receive honorable mention: freshman Mackenzie Loesing and sophomore Christa Baccas. Loesing also mad the all-freshman team.

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In the MAAC, Coach of the Year Joe Mihalich is one of 20 finalists for the Skip Prosser Award given by collegeinsider.com. The award was initiated in 2008 and goes to a coach who achieves success on the court and demonstrates moral integrity off the court.
Western New York native and former ECC and Canisius coach John Beilein of Michigan also is a finalist.

Also from collegeinsider.com, Niagara's Juan'ya Green and Billy Baron of Canisius were tabbed as MAAC co-MVPs.

-- Bob DiCesare

Game analysis: UB usually finds a way to lose close games but on Monday in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament it found a way to win. Actually, it was more like an escape. Central Michigan rallied from a seven-point deficit to send the game into overtime and had a chance to win but Kyle Randall's 3-pointer bounced off the backboard and the Bulls won, 74-72, to advance to the tournament's second round against Ball State.

How UB won: Javon McCrea who earned first-team All-MAC honors earlier in the day controlled the paint while Will Regan kept some of the pressure off McCrea inside by hitting 3 of 6 3-pointers. Randall went nuts after halftime, but the Bulls came up with a huge defensive stop to win the game.

Turning Point: McCrea gave the Bulls a four-point advantage in overtime when he drove right and flushed in a left-handed dunk with 2:59 left in the game. Central Michigan pulled within a point on a Randall free throw but Watson made 1 of 2 free throws with 3.4 seconds left.

Player of the Game: Randall had three points at halftime but finished with a game-high 31.

Who is that guy?: Raphell Thomas-Edwards career at UB has been nondescript to say the least but he scored a career best 10 points in the first half, all off the bench. Coming into the game, he made a grand total of 10 field goals this season.

Key stat: Watson was 1 of 10 from downtown.

What It Means: UB advances to Cleveland for the 10th consecutive season.

In the House: 2,309 at Alumni Arena.

He said it: "Partly why we didn't want to play Buffalo was because of Javon McCrea. We don't have anybody that can defend him. We have undersized post guys in there as freshman so we were going to try to be as physical with him as possible and limit his touches he got. As special of a player as he is, he kept working and kept fighting." - Central Michigan coach Keno Davis.

Up next: vs. Ball State at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Cleveland

---Rodney McKissic

UB junior Javon McCrea and freshman Jarryn Skeete were honored this morning by the Mid-American Conference. McCrea was named to the All-MAC first team while Skeete made the All-Freshman team.

First Team
Zeke Marshall, C, Akron
Javon McCrea, F, UB
Chris Evans, G/F, Kent State
Rian Pearson, G, Toledo
D.J. Cooper, G, Ohio

Second Team
Tree Treadwell, F, Akron
Jauwan Scaife, G, Ball State
A'uston Calhoun, F, Bowling Green
Kyle Randall, G, Central Michigan
Shayne Whittington, F/C, W. Michigan

Third Team
Majok Majok, F, Ball State
Randal Holt, G, Kent State
Walter Offutt, G, Ohio
Reggie Keely, F, Ohio
Juice Brown, G, Toledo

Honorable Mention
Alex Abreu, G, Akron
Jordon Crawford, G, Bowling Green
Glenn Bryant, F, Eastern Michigan
Will Felder, F, Miami
Nate Hutcheson, F, Western Michigan

All-Freshman Team
Jake Kretzer, G/F, Akron
Jarryn Skeete, G, UB
Chris Fowler, G, Central Michigan
Nathan Boothe, C, Toledo
Darius Paul, F, Western Michigan

---Rodney McKissic

Game analysis: D.J. Cooper has broken the hearts of several teams over the years and he did it again against UB on Tuesday. The Bulls cut off Cooper's drive to the basket so he sank a deep 3-pointer with 1:34 left in the game that proved to be the game winner as the Bulls fell to the Bobcats, 72-69.

How UB lost: The Bulls committed 19 turnovers and several came at critical times in the contest. They also failed to convert a field goal after Javon McCrea's basket with 3:51 left in the game.

Turning Point: After McCrea's final basket, UB went 0-4 from the floor with four turnovers.

Player of the Game: Cooper scored a game-high 24 points and was 5 of 10 from downtown.

Mr. 2,000: Cooper went over the 2,000-point mark for his career with his first basket of the night, a 3-pointer which stopped a 14-4 Bulls run.

Nice stat line: in his final game at Alumni Arena, senior guard Tony Watson had 11 points, 11 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers in 40 minutes. He was also 8-for-8 from the free-throw line.

Key stat: The Bulls outrebounded the Bulls, 43-22.

What It Means: With a game remaining at Bowling Green, the Bulls are locked in a three-way tie for the No. 4 seed in next week's MAC Tournament with Kent State and Eastern Michigan at 7-7.

In the House: 3,132 at Alumni Arena.

He said it: "We know we're getting better and we know we have the ability to beat every team in this conference. We have to take the mindset everyday that we have a challenge in front of us one game at a time and take our opponents seriously.'' - UB forward Will Regan.

Up next: at Bowling Green at 6 p.m. Friday.

---Rodney McKissic

UB 81, Akron 67

How UB Won: The Bulls shot it up from three in the first half (7 of 14) and then worked inside for 18 points in the paint in the second half. They were unfazed by the Akron's switch to zone, unlike when they squandered a 20-point lead in the first meeting. They made it to the free throw line 23 times, compared to just 12 for the Zips. And they turned it over a scant 10 times -- just four in the second half. Plus UB's starting backcourt of Tony Watson and Jarryn Skeete outscored Akron's backcourt starters, 31-20.

National Alert: Akron's national-best 19-game winning streak comes to and end. The Zips hadn't lost since Dec. 15 at Detroit.

Player of the Game: Akron's impressive season and its 19-game winning streak that ended Saturday are bound to give Zips like Zeke Marshall and Demetrius Treadwell support in the Player of the Year vote. But how can it really be anyone but Javon McCrea? He had 26 points, six rebounds, four blocks and two assists against the conference's most imposing front line. He went 13 of 18 from the field. He carried UB with 18 second-half points. And he's at or near the top in all the big statistical categories. Look at the numbers and it's a no-brainer.

Best Supporting Role: It would be criminal not to wrap UB's other starters into one package. Watson and Skeete both played 40 minutes. Will Regan went for 36 and Auraum Nuiriankh 32. The starting five went 27 of 47 from the field and only turned it over eight times.

Best Player (Losing Team): Zips 7-foot senior Zeke Marshall has come such a long way since those early days. He had 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting, grabbed six rebounds and blocked five shots. He should be the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year. And he's a class act.

Major Bit Player: UB siwngman Raphell Thomas-Edwards, who's been out with back problems, played the final 4-plus minutes after Nuiriankh was ejected along with Akron's Deji Ibitayo. He came up big in that short time, making 3 of 4 free throws and snaring two rebounds.

Stat Check I: Akron went just 4 of 21 from three. They came in tied for second in the MAC in shooting percentage from behind the arc.

Stat Check II: The Bulls shot 60 percent in the second half (15 of 25) and outscored Akron by nine despite managing 12 fewer field goal attempts.

What It Means: Akron (23-5, 13-1) maintains a firm grasp on the MAC lead despite the defeat. UB (12-17, 7-7) remains tied for fourth with Kent State and Eastern Michigan but loses the tiebreaker to both. The top five teams avoid a first-round campus game in the MAC Tournament. Two games remain.

In the House: The crowd of 4,204 included former UB great Sam Pellom, who was honored in a pregame ceremony.

Next Up: UB entertains Ohio and star guard D.J. Cooper on Tuesday night. Akron's home to Miami.

They Said It

UB Coach Reggie Witherspoon: "Obviously our guys had to play well to beat this team. They're a great team. I said this before the game and I'll say it now, that we shouldn't be in the position where we're talking about whether they get an at=large. We should discontinue that talk and talk about their seeding, like we do some other teams around the country,

"Having said that, I think our guys have pesevered all year and made a great effort to just take it a day at a time in an attempt to just get better every single day and block out all the rest of the things. And I think today we put together a pretty good 40 minutes."

Akron center Zeke Marshall: "Their whole team was energized. . . . That number right beside our name (24th ranked), everyone wants to come and beat you. Everyone's going to come in energized against us because we've been on that huge winning streak. Sure enough they did tonight."

Akron Coach Keith Dambrot on 19 straight wins in an age of great parity: "It's incredible. The only time I've ever been involved in that is one time at Ashland College we won our first 15 games. And then obviously when I had LeBron (at St. Vincent-St. Mary's). Your margin of error's pretty good when you got LeBron. When you got better guys and you're noticably better than most of the teams you play you're going to win 53 out of 54 games.

"I felt like we might have felt it a little bit. We just didn't play relaxed, just never relaxed."

Dambrot on McCrea: "He was 11 points at our place. He was really good tonight. He kicked out guys asses really. But that's tonight. We'll see the next time. He's good. I mean he's one of the best players in the league obviously. He's been good as a freshman."

-- Bob DiCesare

Game analysis: UB's defense made it a tough night for Toledo's Rian Pearson, the MAC's leading scorer, who was held to 10 points on 3 of 12 shooting in the Bulls' 75-60 victory on Wednesday.

How UB won: Toledo shot just 32.4 percent for the game, including 27.8 percent in the first half while the Bulls were on fire from everywhere. UB hit 51.9 percent of its shots and was 9 of 18 from long range.

Turning Point: The Rockets got within 11 points with 13:42 remaining when the Bulls pushed the lead to 20 with a 12-3 run.

Player of the Game: Coach Reggie Witherspoon says Tony Watson plays better when his mother attends the games. If he has nights like Wednesday (career-high 24 points) perhaps she should come more often.

Unsung player of the game: Javon McCrea had a double-double by halftime and finished with 14 points and a career best 16 rebounds.

Key stat: The Bulls had 16 assists and 11 turnovers.

Key stat II: McCrea led a nice UB block party with four of the team's eight rejections.

What It Means: UB is now 10-15 overall and 5-6 in the MAC.

In the House: 2,338

He said it: "I thought overall it was one of our best team defensive effort. I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping them out of the paint. I thought we kept them from getting easy baskets for the most part." - UB coach Reggie Witherspoon.

Up next: The Bulls play at Miami (Ohio) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

---Rodney McKissic

Game analysis: Billy Baron did allow a buzzer to decide his team's fate this time around. Billy the Kid had his stroke going early and often against rival Niagara to the tune of 33 points as Canisius avenged its last-second loss two weeks at home, 77-70, on Sunday.

How Canisius won: Showered with chants of, "Daddy's Boy," Baron made his father proud especially with all the pounding he took in a physical game. Baron missed out playing the full 40 minutes only because he sat out two after hurting his ankle. Niagara was able to dig out of a first-half hole but failed to come up with a key basket in the final minutes. Antoine Mason, the team's go-to scorer, sat out the game with an ankle injury.

Turning Point: Baron broke a tie at 64 with a layup and then Canisius ceased control of the game when Jordan Heath followed a Harold Washington miss with a two-handed jam.

Player of the Game: Can't say enough about Baron.

Unsung player of the game: Washington has been fighting a viral infection the last few days but came through with 18 points and four assists.

Key stat: The Griffs had 16 turnovers and just six assists.

Key stat II: Niagara shot just 12 of 23 from the charity stripe.

What It Means: Despite the loss, Niagara remains in first place in the MAAC at 10-4, while Canisius is in a three-way tie for second.

Long time coming: Canisius won at Niagara for the first time since Nov. 30, 2002.

Tough night: Marvin Jordan hit the winning shot to beat Canisius in their last matchup but was scoreless this time around.

Working overtime: Referee Jeff Anderson worked Sunday's game after officiating Saturday's five overtime marathon between Notre Dame-Louisville game in South Bend. When asked how much sleep he got Anderson said, "Four hours."

In the House: Green Bay Packers running back and Niagara Falls native James Stark and NU great Tyrone Lewis were among the capacity crowd of 2,400 at the Gallagher Center.

He said it: "He was leading the team and we followed." - Harold Washington on Billy Baron.

Up next: The Golden Griffins play at Loyola while the Purple Eagles travel to Marist, both on Thursday.

---Rodney McKissic

Game analysis: Billy Baron and Harold Washington combined for 14 points but it didn't matter because defense was the fuel that drove Canisius to a 76-44 victory over struggling Siena.

How Canisius won: Canisius likes to run and gun with little regard for defense so the numbers against the Saints were staggering. They held Siena to 32.7 percent shooting, forced 20 turnovers and had 13 steals and six blocks. They also pressured Siena point guard Evan Hymes into nine turnovers. The Saints 44 points scored tied a Koessler Center record for fewest points by an opponent.

Turning Point: Seriously, Siena was never in this game. After Canisius took a 7-4 lead, it outscored the Saints 35-15 by halftime.

Player of the Game: At 6-6 Chris Manhertz may be undersized but it's undervalued: 12 points, 11 boards, two blocks.

Key stat: Canisius committed just four turnovers, one in the first half.

Welcome back: Alshwan Hymes returned to the lineup after serving a suspension for a violation of team rules scored 11 points on 5 of 8 from the floor in 24 minutes. He's apparently back in the good graces of coach Jim Baron.

"He gives us high energy off the bench and that's important," Baron said. "As we move forward, everyone needs to know their role. Whenever you take over a program, it's always balancing it out and it's a team effort. Everybody wins when we win. When you play in a league like this - and I'm coming from the Atlantic 10 - you need a good amount of players. You need a bench. And the way we play uptempo, pushing the ball and attacking, we need guys off the bench to give us quality minutes and that was important today."

What It Means: Canisius moves up to 12-7 overall and 5-2 in MAAC play.

In the House: 2,001 on Hall of Fame Day.

He said it: "It was one of our best defensive efforts with guys understanding what we needed to do with post position help defense and keeping guys in front. We have to carry it over because we have two games this week that are going to be very, very challenging, one on the road at Rider and coming back with Niagara so we have to take them one game at a time." - Canisius coach Jim Baron

Up next: The Golden Griffins hit the road against Rider for a 7 p.m. game Friday.

---Rodney McKissic

Game analysis: Javon McCrea carried UB's offense with 33 points, a career best, while adding 10 rebounds and 15 of 15 from the free-throw line. While he shot 9 of 12, his teammates shot a dreadful 7 of 31 in a 80-68 loss to Kent State.

How UB lost: McCrea could use some help - even Jordan had Pippen - and the Bulls could shoot the ball better from long distance (3-22). Taking better care of the ball would be a plus, too. Of the Bulls 20 turnovers, Kent State converted nearly half in transition and finished with 21 points total.

Turning Point: When McCrea converted a layup with 8:52 remaining to give the Bulls a 62-58 lead, it was UB's final field goal of the game. They finished the game 0 for 10 overall with four turnovers. The game was knotted at 66 when Kent State's Devareux Manley gave the Flashes the lead for good on a 3-pointer with 4:42 left in the game. The Bulls were behind, 72-68 with 1:59 left before Kent State closed out the game with a 7-0 run.

Player of the Game: Randal Holt scored 19 of his team-high 27 points in the second half.

Key stat: UB recorded just nine assists.

Foul!: A total of 55 fouls were called which meant plenty of trips to the free-throw line. UB went 38 times and made 33, while the Flashes were 25 of 36.

T him up!: Reggie Witherspoon was issued a technical foul with 55 seconds left in the game for stepping out of the coaches box. Witherspoon yelled at the clock operators for resetting the shot clock after Kent State missed a shot and UB had possession briefly before Kent State got the ball back. UB was down by six at the time and after Holt made two free throws Xavier Ford committed a foul on Chris Evans who hit two more to give Kent a, 78-68 lead with 43 seconds remaining. Witherspoon yelled at the operators: "Why don't you ever make a mistake that benefits us?"

What It Means: The Bulls fall to 0-3 in the MAC, their worst start since 2002-03.

In the House: Former UB football coach Craig Cirbus (1995-00) was among the 3,057 at Alumni Arena.

He said it: "It was a great performance by him and he's a great player. He's one of the best players to come into this league in a long time and he played great. He's a tough matchup for a lot of teams and he was a tough matchup for us." - Kent State coach Rob Senderoff.

Up next: The Bulls host Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Saturday.

---Rodney McKissic

Game analysis: This was a little more like the Canisius team we've seen over the last month or so. They shot 56 percent in the first half and built a 16-point lead in the second. While Marist whittled the advantage down to six in the last few minutes, the Golden Griffins held on for a 73-64 win on Saturday.

How Canisius won: The offensive punch missing from Thursday's loss against Fairfield returned against Marist. Isaac Sosa was 5 of 11 from 3-point range and finished with a team-high 22 points while Billy Baron added 17 points and 10 assists. The Griffs were 10 of 23 from beyond the arc.

Turning Point: The 9-0 run to start the game was huge for Canisius, who struggled to find anything positive offensively from the Fairfield blow out. Baron set the tone by nailing his first two threes and everything fell into place.

Player of the Game: Sosa's stretch of four consecutive 3-pointers gave the Griffs enough breathing room to hold back hard-charging Marist at the end.

Unsung player of the game: Chris Manhertz. You'll be hard pressed to find someone who works the boards harder than the 6-6 glass master from the Bronx. He grabbed 14 rebounds and when you factor in his 18-rebound effort against the Red Foxes on Dec. 9, he averaged 16 boards in two games against Marist. He also averaged 6.5 offensive rebounds.

Key stat: Marist's bench went scoreless.

Key stat II: Canisius had 17 assists AND 17 turnovers. Not good.

Suspended: Senior guard Alshwan Hymes was been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules. A source said Hymes got into an argument with an assistant coach. Hymes seemed to be working his way out of the guard rotation recently and in his last five games he was just 3 of 9 and hadn't attempted a 3-pointer in the last two. He played just three minutes on Thursday against Fairfield.

"It's a team issue, that's what it is," coach Jim Baron said. "We'll see, we're taking it day to day. It's my decision."

What It Means: Canisius and rival Niagara are tied for first place in the MAAC at 3-1. Way too early to get excited.

In the House: 1,401 at the KAC.

He said it: "He's got a will. It's hard when a kid has will. He's not excepting a box out." - Marist Chuck Martin coach on Manherz.

Up next: Canisius hits the road for last place Siena at 7 p.m. on Friday.

---Rodney McKissic