WMU advance to MAC semis; MSU survives against Iowa, 66-61

It was a good day for college basketball in the state of Michigan & looks to be even better on Friday. The #2 Western Michigan Broncos kicked things off with a win against the #7 Bowling Green Falcons, 67-56 in the quarterfinals of the men's MAC tournament. Three Broncos reached double digits, led by Demetrius Ward with 14 points, and with the victory, Western's head coach Steve Hawkins earned his fourth 20-win season of his career. The Broncos (20-11) will now face #6 Akron on Friday in the semifinals at 7 pm.

Meanwhile at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Michigan State's Draymond Green produced 21 points and 14 rebounds as the Spartans survived against Iowa, 66-61 in the first round of the men's Big Ten tournament, thus keeping their NCAA tournament hopes alive. Also contributing to the win was Kalin Lucas, who scored 11 points and Keith Appling with 10 points. The Hawkeyes tried to forced overtime, but Iowa’s Matt Gatens missed a 3-pointer that could have tied the game with 6 seconds remaining. Bryce Cartwright had 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Gatens had 13 points for Iowa (11-20), which was coming off a win over then-No. 6 Purdue. Michigan State (18-13) has played in the last two Final Fours and hasn’t missed the NCAA tournament since the 1996-97 season, but the #7 Spartans felt they needed to beat #10 Iowa to boost their chances of continuing that streak. Up next for MSU is a quarterfinal match against #2 Purdue on Friday at 6:30 pm.

Also on tap for Friday at the Big Ten tournament , #4 Michigan will take on #5 Illinois in the quarterfinals at 2:30 pm while the women of the MAC semifinals will see action as #3 Central Michigan faces #2 Bowling Green at noon and #5 Eastern Michigan will go up against #1 Toledo at approximately 2:30 pm.