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MAC tournament endures wild day

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By Pete Conrad, Staff Writer Updated 6:53 AM Friday, March 12, 2010

CLEVELAND — Anything can happen in the Mid-American Conference tournament, and on Thursday night, March 11, just about everything did.

No. 1 seed Kent State? See ya.

No. 2 seed Central Michigan? See ya.

In addition to the two upsets, in the Akron-Eastern Michigan game there were last-second heroics and lots of angry people (seven technical fouls, including two each by Akron’s Anthony “Humpty” Hitchens, Eastern’s Brandon Bowdry and the Eagles’ bench).

The biggest shock of the night had to be the ease with which the ninth-seeded Ohio Bobcats eliminated Kent State 81-64 in the third quarterfinal game.

Junior guard Armon Bassett led the Bobcats (18-14) with 38 points.

“We expected to win. At the same time, we have a lot of respect for them,” Bassett said of Kent State, which slipped to 23-9. “But tonight was our night.”

The Flashes had started the night with an RPI of No. 42, but their quarterfinal loss sinks any chance they might have had of earning an NCAA at-large bid.

McNees hits big shot

The shot of the night at Quicken Loans Arena came from Akron’s Steve McNees, a 3-pointer with eight-tenths of a second left in overtime to tie the score in the Zips’ game against Eastern Michigan.

The third-seeded Zips (23-9) went on to win in double-overtime 97-89 and will face Western Michigan in today’s first semifinal at 7 p.m.

“I got downcourt as quickly as I could, and I prefer shooting while going to my left, so I dribbled to that side and pulled up,” said McNees, a junior guard.

The loss by EMU (17-15) spoiled a spectacular performance by senior guard Carlos Medlock, who scored 42 points, including 13 in the two overtime periods.

Kool lives up to award

Some of the voters responsible for naming Western Michigan’s David Kool as the MAC Player of the Year might have had second thoughts by halftime of the Broncos’ game against Central Michigan.

The Eagles were leading 31-22 and Kool, the league’s leading scorer at 20.9 points per game, had scored only two free throws.

Everything changed dramatically in the second half.

Kool caught fire and scored 24 points over the final 20 minutes as the seventh-seeded Broncos (18-14) rallied to win 69-60 over the second-seeded Chippewas (15-15).

“It’s just a matter of the guys finding me a lot more,” said Kool, a senior guard who finished with 26 points, hitting 12-of-14 free throws.

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