Freshman leads Ohio past Kent
Leon Williams and the Bobcats will face top-seeded Miami of Ohio.
CLEVELAND -- Leon Williams scored 14 points and added 16 rebounds to outmuscle Kent State and lead Ohio into the Mid-American Conference tournament semifinals with a 62-55 win on Thursday night.
Williams, the MAC freshman of the year, made the play of the game for the fourth-seeded Bobcats (19-10) when he took a hard foul underneath with 8:39 left.
He had to be restrained by an official, but hit two free throws to complete a 4-point play after Nate Gerwig was called for an intentional foul. It was part of a 12-0 run that opened a 49-38 lead with 7:01 remaining.
Mychal Green scored 13 and Jeremy Fears added 12 for the Bobcats.
Ohio will play No. 1 seed Miami of Ohio in the semifinals. No. 7 seed Buffalo will face defending tournament champion Western Michigan in today's second semifinal.
No. 5 Kent State (20-12) beat Ohio by 17 points just five days ago, but the Golden Flashes never found their shooting touch and were a dismal 7-of-28 (25 percent) from 3-point range.
Jay Youngblood led Kent State with 16 points. DeAndre Haynes scored 11.
W. Michigan 66, Akron 60, OT
CLEVELAND -- Ben Reed scored 24 points and Western Michigan scored all eight points on free throws in overtime.
The third-seeded Broncos (19-11) limited the Zips (19-10) to two points from the line in overtime. Akron was also hurt by two costly turnovers in the final 1:49 and got off just three shots in the extra session.
Levi Rost added 20 points and Joe Reitz had 10 points and 10 rebounds for Western Michigan, which will play Buffalo (21-8) in today's semifinals.
Bubba Walther and Romeo Travis led Akron with 12 points apiece. The Zips had a chance to win it in regulation, but Dru Joyce missed a 3-pointer as time expired.
Akron is 0-5 in MAC tournament quarterfinals.
Reed added a career-high 13 rebounds as Western Michigan outrebounded Akron 55-34. The Broncos pulled down 24 offensive rebounds, including several key ones that allowed them to keep possession in OT.
Cavaliers star LeBron James watched from a luxury box, cheering on Travis and Joyce, his Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School teammates. James left disappointed, putting on his coat and heading toward the door before the game was over.
Akron made eight 3-pointers in the first half and 12 overall, but the Zips couldn't hit the big one when they needed it down the stretch.
Miami (Ohio) 85, Bowling Green 65
CLEVELAND -- Danny Horace scored a career-high 28 points, Chet Mason added 21 and top-seeded Miami of Ohio muscled its way into the semifinals.
The MAC's No. 1 seed for the sixth time overall and first time since 1999, the Redhawks (19-9) had little trouble handling the eighth-seeded Falcons (18-11), who beat Miami by one point just 12 days ago.
It wasn't pretty, though. The teams were whistled for a combined 58 fouls and attempted 66 free throws in a game that got testy at times. Miami went 33-of-39 from the free-throw line.
The Redhawks took much of the suspense out of this quarterfinal matchup early, bolting to a double-digit lead in the first half and pushing their advantage to 20 in the second half on Mason's 3-point play with 11:06 remaining.
Buffalo 85, Toledo 72
CLEVELAND -- Calvin Cage scored 23 points and Buffalo moved into the semifinals of the MAC tournament for the first time.
Yassin Idbihi added 15 points and MAC player of the year Turner Battle 12 for the seventh-seeded Bulls (21-8), who avenged a loss to the Rockets (16-13) in last year's quarterfinals.
Keith Triplett led Toledo with 17 points and Keonta Howell had 13.