Written by Adam Burke

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It was a tale of two halves for a large portion of the Mid-American Conference on Saturday, as four of the six winners trailed at halftime. In the marquee game of the weekend, the Akron Zips overcame a 10-point halftime deficit to escape Kent with a 71-67 win over the Flashes. It certainly wasn’t pretty, as the Zips shot just 46 percent from the free throw line and missed 18 of 25 three point attempts. But, 22 offensive rebounds and a monster effort from Demetrius Treadwell, with 15 points and 16 rebounds, helped the Zips to victory. The Flashes were paced by Chris Evans, who had 19 points.

In a game that was seen on SportsTime Ohio, the Ohio Bobcats took care of the Toledo Rockets with a 76-67 win at home. Their comeback was less of a task, as the Bobcats only trailed by three at halftime. Some great adjustments by head coach Jim Christian led the Bobcats to a 43-point second half and their fourth conference win. Eastern Michigan took a 13-point lead into halftime and held off Miami of Ohio for a 65-58 win. Central Michigan beat Ball State for the first time in over three years by erasing a two-point deficit at halftime and holding Ball State to just 20 points in the second half in their 71-57 win. As expected, Bowling Green and Buffalo played yet another close game, with the Bulls prevailing 68-65, after trailing by eight at halftime. In the late game, Northern Illinois managed just 34 points in a 71-34 drubbing at the hands of Western Michigan. For context, the NIU football team scored more than 34 points in 11 of their 14 games.

All 12 MAC teams will be in action on Wednesday night, with the conference’s top three teams all hitting the road. The East Division-leading Akron Zips will head out to Toledo to take on the Rockets. You have to go all the way back to February 10, 2007 to see the last time the Rockets beat the Zips, winning 68-65 at Savage Hall. The Zips have won nine in a row and 12 of their last 14. The Rockets have struggled since a surprising win over Kent State to start MAC play, squeaking past Central Michigan in overtime and giving up 79 points and 76 points in their last two MAC contests to Western Michigan and Ohio. Toledo’s Rian Pearson had 29 in a losing effort last season when these two teams met last February, with the Zips winning 86-72. The Akron/Toledo game can be seen live on SportsTime Ohio at 7 p.m.

The Ohio Bobcats will make a quick stop home for a day of class and a couple practices before heading to Oxford to take on the Miami of Ohio Redhawks. The Bobcats have turned up the intensity in MAC play, winning all four games by an average of nearly 12 points per game after struggling a bit through their non-conference slate. The Redhawks, 2-2 in conference play, won’t be able to score with the Bobcats, so defense will focus heavily in their gameplan. It has been a pretty evenly matched series over the last 10 games, with Ohio holding a slight 6-4 advantage. Ohio won both matchups last season.

Two teams that had tough luck losses on Saturday will meet in Bowling Green on Wednesday night. Kent State will have had a couple of days to lick their wounds from the Akron loss and the sting of Bowling Green’s late loss to Buffalo should have subsided. Kent State cannot afford a slip-up in this matchup, already two games behind both Akron and Ohio in the MAC East Division standings. Certainly, anything can happen come MAC Conference Tournament time, but Kent State needs a win to keep their division title hopes alive. Last time Kent State played at the Stroh Center, Bowling Green dominated them, winning by 16, and holding the Flashes to just 58 points. That’s Kent State’s only loss in the last five meetings between these two.

East meets West between two of the Michigan schools in the MAC, as MAC West Division-leading Western Michigan will host Eastern Michigan. After losing four in a row and seven out of eight, the Eagles are riding a mini two-game winning streak into Kalamazoo for this game. Western Michigan has gotten their act together over the last two games, putting together two of their most complete efforts of the season in blowout wins over Toledo and Northern Illinois. The Eagles won two nailbiters over the Broncos last season to avenge two blowouts during the 2010-2011 season.

The longest road trip this week belongs to the Buffalo Bulls who will head to Muncie to take on Ball State. The Bulls snapped a four-game losing streak with their come-from-behind victory over Bowling Green on Saturday, but the road hasn’t been kind to the Bulls, who have just two wins away from home this season. The Cardinals have lost their last three games by a combined 35 points after opening MAC play with a two-point win over Central Michigan. These two squads have split the last four meetings.

The hapless Huskies travel to Mount Pleasant to meet the Central Michigan Chippewas. Just six teams have fewer wins than 3-13 Northern Illinois. Things reached a new low on Saturday with just 34 points, easily passing their previous low of 43 this season. It was NIU’s lowest point output in 67 years. On that high note, NIU heads to McGuirk Arena, a place they haven’t won in since January 26, 2006. Central Michigan is 2-0 in MAC play at home, a trend they’ll look to continue with the Huskies in town.

All of Wednesday’s games tip off at 7 p.m.