DaytonDailyNews.com

OXFORD — Hamilton's Brandon Lampley has been one of the hottest players in the Mid-American Conference over the last couple weeks, and the Ball State senior guard came up with a big play in the Cardinals' game at Bowling Green on Wednesday, Jan. 28.

The only problem was that Lampley's big play was negated by an even bigger play by Bowling Green's Chris Knight.

With Ball State trailing by three points, Lampley stole a pass and was on his way for an apparent layup when Knight, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward, came out of nowhere to block the shot and help preserve a 62-58 victory for the Falcons.

"That block was crazy ... It was the boost to finish the game out strong," Knight said. "I just wanted to chase it down and contest it. I saw I could get it, so I went to get it."

Lampley has started the last three games for the Cardinals, and over the last four contests has averaged 13.9 points, including 16 in a 50-44 victory over Western Michigan, which is tied atop the MAC West Division with Ball State.

Lampley scored a career-high 18 points in a 54-53 loss to Arkansas State earlier this season.

Buffalo looking Bullish

The Buffalo Bulls are looking like keepers in the MAC East Division title chase.

Buffalo fought back after trailing the Western Michigan Broncos 14-2 to win on the Broncos' homecourt 74-71 Wednesday.

"We did a great job of persevering," Buffalo coach Reggie Witherspoon said. "We took their shots and didn't get discouraged at all. It was wonderful to see our guys do that."

Rodney Pierce led the Bulls with 21 points, including 16 in the second half.

Pierce had been held to 13 points, going 4-for-12 from the field, in Buffalo's 76-64 victory at Miami last weekend.

East is perfect so far

Five games have been played pitting MAC East Division teams against West Division teams. So far the East is living up to its billing as the much strong division by winning all five games.

Two of the games were blowouts — Miami's 28-point romp over Northern Illinois, and Kent State's 22-point win over Eastern Michigan.

Conference RPI update

The MAC continues to struggle in the Ratings Percentage Index, which ranks the nation's teams on their win-loss record and strength of schedule.

Only two teams are in the top 100: Miami at No. 46 and Buffalo, No. 69.

Two MAC teams are in the bottom 12 of the 343 teams: Northern Illinois, No. 332, and Eastern Michigan, No. 337.

The others are Ohio (No. 109), Akron (122), Bowling Green (183), Kent State (208), Ball State (223), Western Michigan (250), Central Michigan (300) and Toledo (312).

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.