Around the MAC

With just over two weeks remaining in the regular season of men's basketball, several Mid-American Conference teams are looking to make a late push in the standings.

While Kent State and Western Michigan seem to have pretty much clinched the East and West division titles respectively, teams behind them are vying to improve their standings for the MAC Tournament, which begin March 11 at Gund Arena in Cleveland.

Kent State Beats Up Creighton

Kent State proved once again that they are one of the top teams in the MAC, defeating Creighton 70-55 on Saturday for their tenth consecutive win.

Jason Edwin led the Golden Flashes with 25 points, as they impressed NCAA officials who were on-hand to determine some at-large bids for the NCAA Tournament in March. Creighton lost their third game in their last five after starting out the season with 12 straight victories.

The game was fairly close until Kent (20-3, 13-1 MAC) scored 19 unanswered points to take a 60-42 lead with under 10 minutes to play.

Bobcats Fall in Overtime

After falling in overtime to Miami of Ohio (15-8, 10-4 MAC) earlier in the week, the Ohio Bobcats (9-16, 6-8 MAC) experienced more of the same against the Butler Bulldogs on Saturday in Indianapolis.

After trailing 32-23 at the half, the Bobcats managed to fight back and eventually send the game to overtime after Jeff Halbert sank two straight 3-pointers to give Ohio their first lead of 44-43 with just over five minutes remaining in regulation.

The Bobcats took the lead early in the extra period with two quick free throws but that was their last lead of the night as the Bulldogs held on to beat Ohio 64-63.

Ohio's Javion Harris led all scorers with 16 points.

Bowling Green Headed Up in West

Needing wins to take over third place in the division, Bowling Green took advantage of a Ball State loss and defeated Youngstown State in Bowling Green on Saturday.

Josh Reimold had 26 points on the day including three straight 3-pointers to open the game for the Falcons (12-13, 7-7 MAC). The Penguins were only five points back in the middle of the first half, but that was the closest they would get as Bowling Green took a 43-30 lead into the locker room.

During the second half the Falcons saw their lead increase to as much as 18 but Youngstown didn't back off, narrowing the deficit to 10 with just over eight minutes to play. Bowling Green then went on an 8-0 run and Youngstown was unable to recover, falling 76-64.

Around the MAC

• Dennis Trammel led Ball State (10-13, 7-7 MAC) with 13 points in a 70-49 loss against Detroit.
  
• Akron (12-12, 6-9 MAC) fell at home to Drake 82-78.
  
• Kevin Nelson's career high 27 points gave Central Michigan (5-20, 1-13 MAC) a 90-73 win over Evansville.
  
• Eastern Michigan (11-12, 5-9 MAC) beat up on Cleveland State 87-66 behind Markus Austin's 20 points.
  
• Toledo (16-8, 10-5 MAC) lost 60-58 to Nevada on a last second tip-in by Garry Hill-Thomas.
  
• Nigel Dixon had 27 to lead Western Kentucky over Marshall (9-14, 6-8 MAC) 87-66
  
• Miami of Ohio (15-8, 10-4 MAC) helped to secure their second place spot in the East with a 75-66 win over Southwest Missouri State
  
• Western Michigan (20-3, 12-2 MAC) survived a scare against the College of Charleston, winning 83-78 in overtime.