Men's basketball finishes Gulf Coast Showcase 0-3
Milwaukee holds on for 84-78 win over CMU
The Central Michigan men's basketball team cut a 15-point deficit to four in the final minute, but couldn't overcome a cold second half in the seventh-place game of the Gulf Coast Showcase on Wednesday.
CMU took a 35-31 lead into halftime, but struggled from the field in the second half, leading to the 84-78 loss to Milwaukee. The Chippewas were blown out by Western Kentucky on Tuesday and lost to Weber State on Monday in the Estero, Florida tournament.
Weber State will play Murray State in the Gulf Coast Showcase final Wednesday night.
“We’re still trying to find ourselves as a team and as players individually in different roles," said Head Coach Keno Davis. "We’ll probably look back at this tournament and find that it really helped us get better as a team.”
Senior guard Rayshawn Simmons led CMU with 21 points, with nine coming in the final 1:15.
The Chippewas trailed Milwaukee 76-61 with 2:35 to play before CMU mounted a late run. Between the 15:13 mark and 1:16 mark in the second half, the Chippewas made just two field goals. They made five field goals in the final 1:15, including their only 3-pointer of the second half.
CMU shot 39.7 percent from the field and made six of its 22 3-point attempts.
“The reason we were able to cut down nets and be a championship-level team last year wasn’t that we were a great 3-point shooting team," Davis said. "Obviously that was something that a lot of people talked about, but more importantly, the nights that we did not shoot well, we found a way to win games.”
It's the first three-game losing streak for CMU since March 4-10, 2014 and first time it's lost three games in three days since being swept in the Maui Invitational Nov. 24-26, 2003.
CMU falls to 2-3 with the loss. The Chippewas lost their third game of the year last season on Jan. 17.
One positive from Wednesday was the free-throw shooting. After going 4-of-16 from the line Tuesday, CMU hit 22-of-26 free throws against Milwaukee. The Chippewas also outrebounded the Panthers 38-36.
Fowler update
The team has been without senior guard Chris Fowler for all five regular season games this year due to an undisclosed injury. Davis said Fowler will be out at least a couple weeks on Nov. 17.
CMU missed Fowler during the tournament, who is the program's all-time leader in assists. In the last two games, CMU lost the assist battle 40-24.
“We feel like he’s going to return to us,” Davis said after Wednesday’s game. “We do not have a timetable yet, but it’s our hope that we can get him back during the nonconference part of our schedule and obviously ahead of time before the always-demanding MAC schedule.”
Fowler decided to stay home for rehab instead of travel with the team to Florida. He has not played since the exhibition game against Ferris State Nov. 7.
“He chose to not come because he knew that he could continue to get healthier by staying home to rehab,” Davis said. “He’s putting the team first by staying back, rather than enjoying the warm weather.”
Davis said he could not talk about the nature of Fowler’s injury.
“I can’t talk to any specifics of the injury. We think that he’s going to be returning to our team,” Davis said. “Obviously that’ll improve the quality of our play, but we can’t use that as an excuse right now. We need to get better as a team, we need to get better individually and not just wait around for Chris to get back.”
CMU will look to bounce back from its three-game losing streak at 7 p.m. Monday at McGuirk Arena against McNeese State.
