CMU men’s basketball team’s frustrating season comes to end

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AMHERST, N.Y. ­— The 2010-11 basketball season was the talk of the school last fall.

A football team struggling to win games was pushed aside for the debut of freshman phenom Trey Zeigler and the Central Michigan men’s basketball team. Despite losing a majority of its offense, CMU and its top-ranked recruiting class in the Mid-American Conference was picked to finish near the top of the MAC West.

But a season marred with close losses and frustration came to an end Tuesday in Buffalo when the Chippewas lost in the first round of the Mid-American Conference tournament.

“We couldn’t make a layup,” said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler. “We missed four layups, two on great possessions where we had run outs. That had nothing to do with Buffalo — we just didn’t take advantage of those opportunities.”

And that was the story all season long. Easy tasks most teams have no problems with ­— like making layups in crunch time or closing out double-digit second-half leads — were difficult for the young and inexperienced Chippewas.

Despite a poor start to the season, parity in MAC West allowed CMU to hang around late and compete for a division title. The Chippewas were able to win their final two road games, needing only a win at home to host a first-round MAC tournament game.

Instead, the two games only served as disappointments. Giving up a 23-point second-half lead to Ball State and losing to Western Michigan for the second time this season poured salt on a wound that never was able to heal.

“Every game we play, we are going to try to compete to win,” Zeigler said after his team’s loss to Western Michigan. “You can’t rest your laurels on what’s happened prior. We just have to come back and see what resolve we have to put ourselves in a position to go on the road.”

CMU followed up Zeigler’s comments with a stronger showing in its first-round game at Buffalo, shooting 38.1 percent in the first half to only trail by four points at halftime.

But a lack of execution and talent began to creep through in the second half as the Chippewas shot just 31.3 percent, blowing several opportunities to tie or take a lead with missed layups and turnovers. After Trey Zeigler’s layup cut UB’s lead to 39-36 with 15:12 remaining, CMU missed four consecutive shots — three of which being layups — and gave up an easy layup on the other end, squashing any momentum the Chippewas may have had.

CMU attempted to change the pace of the game all throughout its course. Early on, Ernie Zeigler used a timeout any time the Bulls stretched their lead to two or three possessions. Later in the game, in an effort to spur the offense, he called for the offense to push the ball.

“That’s all you can do,” Zeigler said. “Basketball is a game of chess, and you try and control momentum. Our goal was try and keep it from getting more than two possessions away. But ultimately, you got to be able to take advantage of the shots you get.”