MAC BASKETBALL KSU cruises to win over Houghton

The Flashes took a commanding 58-28 halftime lead.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KENT -- Rashard Turner scored 21 points and Kent State opened its season Friday with a 111-52 rout of Houghton, a NAIA school.
Turner hit 7-of-9 shots from the floor, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Clif Brown added 16 points and Scott Cutley and Jason Edwin had 13 apiece for Kent State.
Houghton (1-2) was led by Jason Lee's 13 points. Justin Pauley, Joel Hamilton and Eric Jankov each had seven points.
Kent State never trailed, going ahead 6-0 as Houghton had three turnovers, a shot blocked and missed a jumper, layup, 3-point shot and free throw in the first two minutes.
The Golden Flashes led 58-28 at halftime. It was the third biggest margin of victory for Kent State, which beat St. Joseph's of Indiana by 65 points (119-54) and Wilberforce by 60 points (110-50), both in 1998.
Bowling Green 103, Urbana 78
BOWLING GREEN -- Ron Lewis scored 34 points and John Reimold added 22 points and nine rebounds in Bowling Green's season-opening win over Urbana.
Josh Almanson scored 18 points for the Falcons, who outscored the Blue Knights (1-4) 17-8 over the final 4:47 of the first half to take a 51-43 lead. Urbana never got closer than nine points after halftime.
Lewis scored eight points during the key run, starting the surge with two free throws to erase Urbana's 35-34 lead. Lewis hit two more free throws and also scored on two dunks during the run. He made 9-of-15 shots from the floor -- 2-for-4 from 3-point range -- and connected on 14-of-15 free throws. The Falcons shot 57 percent from the floor (35-for-61) and went 26-for-30 at the foul line.
Urbana shot just 44 percent (28-for-64) but made 9-of-25 3-pointers. Jarrod Brumbaugh led the Blue Knights with 18 points and Antonio Davis scored 17.
Toledo 71, Ind.-Pur.-Ft. Wayne 53
FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Keith Triplett scored 17 points and Sammy Villegas added 16 to lead Toledo over Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne in the season opener for both teams.
The Rockets shot 43 percent from the field while holding the Mastodons to 39 percent.
A.J. Shellabarger scored 10 points off the bench for the Rockets, who shot 14-of-16 from the free-throw line and did not miss from there in the second half.
The Mastodons made only 58 percent of their free-throw attempts (11-for-19). David Simon scored 17 points and was the only player to score in double figures for IPFW.
Canisius 60, Buffalo 58
AMHERST, N.Y.-- Jon Ferris and Toby Foster each scored 14 points to lead Canisius.
Buffalo trailed by two with less than four seconds left when Turner Battle accepted an inbounds pass and forced up an off-balance 3-pointer that came up short at the buzzer.
The game was tight from start to finish, with four ties and three lead changes. In the end, however, it was decided by the way the teams shot from the free throw line and the 3-point line.
Canisius (1-0) got a critical 3-pointer from Foster with 2:45 to play that gave the Golden Griffins a 57-55 lead. The Golden Griffins attempted 23 3-pointers and made seven. Foster led the way, going 4-of-9 from 3-point range.
Buffalo (0-1) attempted only nine 3-pointers, making three. The Bulls pounded the ball inside to their forwards and earned 23 trips to the free throw line compared to 12 for Canisius. But Buffalo made only nine free throws, equaling the amount made by the Golden Griffins.
B.J. Walker led Buffalo with 16 points, while Battle had 14.
W. Michigan 83, Southern Cal. 65
KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Mike Williams scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, leading Western Michigan.
It was the season-opening game for both teams. Three other Western players reached double digits, with Ben Reed scoring 20, Anthony Kann recording 12 and Reggie Berry adding 10. Rory O'Neil led four USC players in double figures with 15.
USC arranged to play the game at Western so guard Desmon Farmer, a senior from Flint and the Trojans' leading scorer last season, could play a game in his home state. But Farmer was held scoreless for 17 minutes and finished with 12 points.
A 12-point run by Western gave the Broncos a 68-59 lead with 4:42 left. After a basket by USC's Rory O'Neil gave the Trojans a 59-56 lead with 7:53 left, three baskets by Kann and two baskets and a steal by Williams fueled Western's lead.
The game marked the Division I head coaching debut of Western's Steve Hawkins, a Ventura, Calif., native who was an assistant the last three seasons to Robert McCullum, now the head coach at the University of South Florida.