Mid-American Conference men's basketball action was furious during the weekend as Kent State and Toledo met in a battle of division leaders.
Kent State (12-3 overall, 6-1 MAC) came away with a 92-56 win against the Rockets to gain a one-game lead over Miami in the MAC East Division. Toledo (13-4, 7-2 MAC) now shares the MAC West Division lead with Western Michigan.
¥¥Jason Edwin proved to be the difference for the Golden Flashes, dominating both sides of the court.
¥¥Keith Triplett, who has scored 15 points or more in all but one game this season for Toledo, was held to five points thanks to excellent defense by Edwin. Triplett went 2-for-12 from the field.
During his defensive show, Edwin controlled the offense as well, leading Kent State with 20 points. Teammate Eric Haut also had 20 while John Edwards and Bryan Bedford also scored double digits for Kent State with 15 and 11 points respectively.
A lack of success from 3-point range and turnovers hurt the Rockets, who went 7-of-32 3-point shooting with 17 turnovers. Shooting only 30.6 percent from the field, Toledo matched its worse loss of the season, a 92-56 loss on Dec. 30 at Louisville.
Kent State's offense fared much better, going 12-of-27 from 3-point range with only 10 turnovers and 23 assists.
Central Michigan Athlete Receives National Honor
Central Michigan's ¥¥Johnie Drake was named Tackshark.com National Track and Field Athlete of the Week after posting a time of 6.54 seconds, the fastest time in the nation this year, at the Central Collegiate Championships. Drake also received Mid-American Conference Player of the Week honors.
He's doing a great job
Central Michigan men's track coach ¥¥Jim Knapp said. He's healthy which is a different situation for him. Johnie's a very powerful explosive runner.
Knapp said he is happy to see Drake finally reaching his potential after being hindered by injuries in the years before.
Now you can see what he can do
he's the man to beat said Knapp.
Previously, Drake's best time was 6.76 seconds in the event. Drake finished fourth in last year's MAC Championships with a time of 6.86.
The time from last weekend is an automatic NCAA qualifier and is the quickest time ran in the 60-meter dash in the last two years.
Drake will be able to see if he can keep his speed in this year's MAC Championship, which will be held at the same track he ran the 6.54 60 meters, Feb. 27-28 at Eastern Michigan's Bob Park's Indoor Track.
Bowling Green Gymnast Earns Second Consecutive Award
Five hundredths of a point is not a lot, but it was enough to name Bowling Green women's gymnast ¥¥Melissa Popovich Mid-American Conference Player of the Week for the second consecutive week.
Recording a 39.275 all-around score, Popovich bested her career-high mark from last week of 39.225. Popovich's new career-high all-around mark is the second highest score in Bowling Green history.
The Falcons (1-1) fell to Southeast Missouri State (2-2) during weekend action, 194.175-191.425. Still, Popovich excelled individually.
Popovich dominated all four events, placing better than any other Bowling Green gymnast in the uneven bars (first, 9.900), the vault (second, 9.750), the floor (second, 9.850) and the beam (third, 9.775).
(Melissa) is the leader of this team on the competitive floor and off
said Falcon's head coach ¥¥Dan Connelly. She is our co-captain for the second year in a row and is a strong personality who will be successful in whatever she does in life. I cannot say enough good things about her.
