Championship Central: Chippewas face Buffalo for MAC Title, NCAA bid
CLEVELAND -- A Central Michigan University men’s basketball season that began with low expectations outside of Mount Pleasant and more uncertainty than assurance has climaxed to the Mid-American Conference’s largest stage.
The Chippewas will face the University at Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. tonight on ESPN2 in the MAC Tournament Championship Game at Quicken Loans Arena. The winner will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Entering the MAC Tournament as the league’s No. 1 seed, the Chippewas dispatched the University of Toledo 75-66 Friday night in the semifinals and qualified for the league’s championship game for the first time since 2003.
“(Winning the MAC Tournament) is something we’ve been working for all year,” said junior guard John Simons. We are one step closer to some of our end of the year goals. We are happy where we are at but we are not satisfied with where we are at.”
Another junior, point guard Chris Fowler, scored a team-high 26 points in CMU’s third victory of the season over UT and led the Chippewas to what Head Coach Keno Davis called “maybe” the Chippewas’ best game of the year.
“I would play (Fowler) more minutes if there were more minutes in the game,” Davis said. “I want the ball in his hands at all times. He’s deserving of all the honors and awards he receives.”
Fowler was named to the MAC’s First Team All-Conference squad on Tuesday and Davis was named the MAC Coach of the Year a day later.
UB brings its own conference standout to the third matchup between the Chippewas and Bulls this season.
Junior forward Justin Moss, who was named the MAC Player of the Year this week, averaged 18.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game during the regular season.
Moss rolled his ankle in practice on Wednesday morning and saw limited playing time in UB’s 68-59 victory over Akron in the tournament semifinals on Friday night.
Bobby Hurley, UB’s head coach, said the swelling in Moss’ ankle is “minimal” and he expects Moss to play against CMU in Saturday’s championship game.
“(CMU) presents a lot of problems for you because of their shooters,” Hurley said. “Fowler breaks the defense down and forces help. Since we lost to Central at home, we’ve picked it up on that end of the floor.”
While the Chippewas offense continues to earn headlines and league-wide attention, Davis said it was CMU’s defense that was crucial to the victory over UT.
“You need to have both sides of the ball,” Davis said. “This is the same team that had three conference wins last year. We are not a great defensive team, but we are much improved.”
Finishing the regular season 20-9 overall and 11-6 in the MAC, the Bulls locked up the tournament’s No. 2 seed with a win against Bowling Green State University on the final day of the regular season.
Two of Buffalo’s conference losses came to CMU, once at home and once in Mount Pleasant.
First meeting
As it has all season, CMU’s 3-point shooting helped it earn an 84-73 victory over the Bulls on Jan. 21 at McGuirk Arena.
After trailing by seven points at halftime, CMU made eight of its 11 second-half 3-point shots to overpower the Bulls and pull the comeback off.
Moss scored 26 points and pulled down nine rebounds that night.
Sophomore guard Braylon Rayson led CMU with a season-high 19 points as Davis and the Chippewas claimed their third conference win of the season
Second meeting
The Chippewas tied Toledo atop the MAC West standings on Feb. 14 with a 75-74 victory over the Bulls on the road.
Down by double digits at halftime, the Chippewas used 15 second-half points from freshman guard Josh Kozinski to pull away with their second win over UB during the regular season.
A stingy CMU defense held Moss to just 13 as the Chippewas outscored the Bulls 43-29 in the second half.
Bench players like Austin Stewart and Blake Hibbitts were crucial to this CMU victory, during which second-leading scorer John Simons went scoreless.
Fowler scored 22 points and went 8-of-11 from the free-throw line as the Chippewas escaped Buffalo with their only one-point victory of the season.
Key to the MAC Championship Game:
In both of CMU’s games against Buffalo this year, the Chippewas were down early and often in the first half. CMU will need to control the tempo against UB just as it did against the UT on Friday.
Moss is healthy enough to play, but not at 100 percent. CMU will need to play good perimeter defense and guard UB’s shooters effectively in an attempt to force Hurley to go to his less-than-healthy big man for scoring.
On offense, CMU committed just five turnovers against UT on Friday. This trend will need to continue for the Chippewas to make the most of their scoring chances and keep UB off the offensive glass.
