Men's basketball rolls Maine, advances to 3-0


Central Michigan men’s basketball coach Keno Davis needed his Serbian players, freshmen Milos Cabarkapa and Filip Medjo, to help pronounce the name of Maine’s Serbian, Zarko Valjarevic.

Davis needed junior guard and co-captain Rayshawn Simmons to guard him in CMU's 76-48 win over Maine Friday night at McGuirk Arena. 

Valjarevic came into Friday as Maine’s leading scorer, shooting 50 percent from the 3-point line this year.

“Coach put a lot of pressure on me in practice about guarding this guy,” Simmons said. “I just really wanted to show him I could guard some of the best players in this country. I want to be one of the players to shut down the next team’s best player.”

Valjarevic sank a 3-pointer less than a minute into the first half, but failed to score for the rest of the game.

“You cannot give him an inch,” Davis said. “And (Simmons) didn’t. We gave him the opening three (and) I called a timeout (because) we didn’t play the right coverage on him. And that wasn’t going to happen again.”

Besides locking down Maine’s best player, Simmons led the Chippewas with six rebounds, nine assists and two steals in addition to his seven points.

“When you have to guard a player at that intensity the entire game, you look at the stat sheet at the end of the night and they’re not in there for the offensive end,” Davis said. “And you understand as a coach. They (use) so much energy on the defensive end, but for him to be able to come in there and make offensive plays as well is a real bright spot.”

CMU point guard Chris Fowler played 22 minutes after picking up two early fouls. Fowler ended the night with six points and six assists. With Fowler on the bench, Simmons took control of the offense.

“Coach just trusted me out there,” Simmons said. “(When) Chris got two fouls, he trusted me to run the team, lead the team.”

While CMU and Maine traded the lead for the first nine minutes, the Chippewas took the lead for good when redshirt freshman Josh Kozinski hit a 3-pointer to give CMU a 11-9 lead.

Kozinski shot 3-for-4 from long range, but was not the most efficient Chippewa. Junior forward John Simons shot 6-for-6 from the field. Five of his made shots were 3-pointers.

“I was getting great looks because of our guards being able to attack,” Simons said. “It started with Luke (Meyer) in the first half, where he was running down the middle of the lane. Our guards are going to find our bigs, so my guy in the corner is going to collapse. I just got some good looks and I was able to knock them down.”

CMU plays Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the second game of the Central Michigan Tournament at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at McGuirk Arena. APB lost to Valparaiso University 59-46 in their first game of the tournament. 

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About Taylor DesOrmeau

Taylor DesOrmeau is a senior at Central Michigan University, majoring in integrative public relations ...

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