Campus Watch

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

UB 59, NIU 54

How UB Won: By getting to the free throw line. And that's how they almost frittered away the lead, too. The Bulls were 15 of 17 from the line before missing 5 of 6 in a stretch that began with 44.5 seconds remaining and ended when Auraum Nuiriankh made two with seven seconds left. Those misfires enabled NIU to get a shot at a tying basket inside the final 10 seconds. But it's a sign UB's running its offense with some success when free throws become part of the equation. And they were 16 of 25 to NIU's 11 of 14. There's your difference.

Player of the Game: Tony Watson hit a pair of big threes inside the final eight minutes, finished with 14 points, played 40 minutes and only turned it over once.

Best Supporting Role: Nuiriankh continues to struggle from the field (2 of 9) but his 10 rebounds were huge.

Stat Check: Javon McCrea's role in the continuity offense has him handling the ball more than most big men, which makes him prone to turnovers. He didn't have a single one Saturday. Last time that happened this season? Never.

Stat Check II: The Huskies shot 61.1 percent in the first half, the second best half of the season for a team that has five times shot under 19 percent in a half and 10 times shot 27 percent or worse.

Stat Check III: UB's bench, a strength in recent seasons, was outscored 21-4.

Snow Job: Northern Illinois had its Saturday evening flight to Chicago canceled. Instead of 90 minutes in the air they chartered a bus for the 12-hour journey back to DeKalb.

What it Means: Everyone's jockeying for position as the season moves inside the final month. The top five teams receive byes into the Cleveland portion of the MAC Tournament. The next three teams host first-round campus games against the bottom three. If the season ended now UB (9-25, 4-6) would host one of those first-round games and a tiebreaker would determine if NIU (5-17, 3-7) is on the road or at home.

In the House: Serve chicken wings and they will come. Free wings were provided as part of Saturday's promotion and the crowd of 4,136 was second to the 4,450 for the home opener against Princeton.

They Said It

NIU Coach Mark Montgomery: "Anytime you go on the road and have a shot to tie it to go overtime you have to be happy."

Montgomery: "Today we shot straight. Shooting 61 percent at halftime, I don't know if you guys followed us but a couple weeks ago we struggled putting that ball in." (The Huskies set an NCAA record with four first-half points against Eastern Michigan).

UB Coach Reggie Witherspoon on the likelihood of Jarod Oldham (wrist fracture) returning for the postseason: "After his last doctor's appointment they said 'Slim,' packed it up and went home. It was slim and none and slim left, so I think that means none."

Next Up: UB plays its final MAC crossover Wednesday night when Toledo visits Alumni Arena. The Rockets are on academic probation and ineligible for the MAC Tournament but have one of the league's more dymanic players in junior guard Rian Pearson.

-- Bob DiCesare

Canisius guard Isaac Sosa has been named to the Academic All-District 1 team, the only player in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference so honored. Sosa has a 3.48 gpa in finance and is the first Griff on the District team since Darren Fenn in 2000-01.

UB has put two players on the Academic All-Mid-American Conference team. They are receiver Alex Neutz, who has a 3.59 in management, and defensive end Colby Way, a 3.49 in computer engineering. Three Bulls -- receiver Rudy Johnson, tight end Matt Weiser and QB Alex Zordich, achieved honorable mention status.

-- Bob DiCesare

UB 91, Central Michigan 73

How UB Won: The offense rolled all night as the Bulls shot 57.7 percent from the field, 42.1 percent from three, established a season-high for points and became the first team this season (including Michigan) to reach 90 on the young Chippewas. Smaller CMU couldn't deal with UB's inside game as the Bulls 4-5 players combined to shoot 20 of 29. The MAC West remains a drain on the MAC's conference RPI -- and its reputation.

Player of the Game: Junior forward Cameron Downing went off for a career-high 21 points, including a clear-the-runways dunk, while junior guard Auraum Nuiriankh supplemented his career-high 18 points with 10 rebounds -- his second double-double of the season. You choose.

Continue reading "UB-Central Michigan Game Wrap" »

UB 68, Bowling Green 65

How UB Won: The Bulls did a solid job defensively on BG's top scorers, A'uston Calhoun and Jordan Crawford. They loosened up the Falcons' zone with seven treys. They cut down on the turnovers (10) and got the ball where it needed to be down the stretch -- in the hands of Javon McCrea.

Turning Point: Bowling Green was up 10 when Crawford committed a senseless reach-in foul on Cameron Dowing with three-tenths of a second left in the first half. Downing made both free throws, cutting the deficit to single digits, and the Bulls drew even by opening the second half with a 10-2 run.

Player of the Game: McCrea said three games ago he needed to take on more of a leadership role. He went off for 21 points and 14 boards against the Falcons, and get a load of these numbers the last two games: 54 points, 16-27 FG, 22-24 FT, 24 rebounds, four blocks.

Best Supporting Role: Sometimes Jarryn Skeete plays like the freshman point guard he is. Saturday he played like what a coach hopes a freshman grows into. He had a career-high 16 points, six rebounds and turned it over just once.

Stat Check: Both teams made seven treys. Both totaled nine assists. Both committed 18 fouls. That's how even it was.

What It Means: UB snapped a four-game losing streak and broke into the MAC win column. The Bulls are 6-12, 1-3. Bowling Green fell to 6-11, 1-3. The Falcons have lost five of their last six -- with all the losses coming on the road.

In the House: The crowd of 3,026 including All-MAC football players Khalil Mack, Steven Means and Alex Neutz. They were recognized on the court early in the first half.

They Said It:

BG Coach Louis Orr: "I thought for us the first three minutes of the second half probably .... was really kind of the difference in the game."

Orr on McCrea: "He's a guy who really creates a lot of contact. So referees, he makes them have to make some kind of call. He's a tough cover. Not just because of his talent and he's kind of ambidextrous, and his second and third effort, but because he creates contact."

Auraum Nuiriankh, on his two threes inside the first four minutes of the second half: " It's always a good thing when you see the ball go in as a basketball player. We've had a little bit of a struggle with shooting the ball but confidence-wise nobody's really suffered, nobody's really felt sad because we missed a couple shots."

UB Coach Reggie Witherspoon: "The biggest thing was our passing. Sometimes the passes weren't on time, sometimes they weren't on target. And as that gets better our shooting will get better and our turnovers will get less. Tonight the turnovers got less. The shooting got better, too."

Next Up: The Bulls step out of the MAC East for the first time with Wednesday's game at Ball State. Four of the next five are on the road.

-- Bob DiCesare

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