College basketball: No. 20 Buffalo pulls away from Eastern Michigan

Montell McRae scored a career-high 18 points and Nick Perkins added 15 to lift No. 20 Buffalo to an easy win in its Mid-American Conference opener, 74-58 over Eastern Michigan on Friday night in Ypsilanti, Mich.

CJ Massinburg added 12 points for Buffalo. McRae scored 12 of his points in the first half, helping the Bulls (13-1, 1-0) through a sluggish start against the EMU zone defense.

Buffalo trailed 15-11 before going on a 19-4 run and led 33-23 at halftime.

McRae’s first-half scoring came on three dunks and a pair of three-pointers. The 6-foot-10 senior finished 8 of 9 from the field and surpassed his previous career high of 13 points.

Elijah Minnie led Eastern Michigan (6-8, 0-1) with 21 points.

Ball State 79, at Toledo 64: Tahjai Teague finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds as the Cardinals ended Rockets’ 10-game winning streak.

Tayler Persons scored 21 points on 10-of-17 shooting, Trey Moses added 17 points and K.J. Walton 14 for Ball State (10-4), which won their fourth straight and ninth in their last 10 games by taking down the defending MAC West champions.

Toledo (12-2) lost for the first time in eight home games this season.

Southern Methodist 74, at Tulane 65: Jahmal McMurray scored 25 points and the Mustangs never trailed in winning its fourth straight and eighth of their last nine.

McMurray made five of nine shots from three-point range and nine of 15 overall. Ethan Chargois added 14 points and Jimmy Whitt Jr. had 11 points and 11 rebounds for his second career double-double. On Nov. 29, 2018, Whitt had first triple-double for SMU (10-4, 2-0) since 1999.

Samir Sehic had 20 points and 15 rebounds, Jordan Cornish added 17 points and Caleb Daniels scored 14 for Tulane (4-10, 0-2).