Men's basketball blows second-half lead in loss to Western Michigan
Chippewas enter MAC Tournament as the fourth seed
The 3,292 fans at McGuirk Arena on Friday cheered as the Central Michigan men's basketball team forced overtime against Western Michigan. Junior guard Braylon Rayson hit a 3-point shot with 13 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 65-65.
On senior night, the Chippewas were five minutes away from clinching the Mid-American Conference West Division outright.
By the end of the five-minute overtime period, the Broncos tied an NCAA record with 26 overtime points and the Chippewa seniors walked off John G. Kulhavi Court for the final time with a loss.
CMU fell in overtime to WMU 91-82, snapping CMU's three-game winning streak. The Chippewas finish the regular season 17-14 (10-8 in the Mid-American Conference).
The Chippewas clinched a share of the MAC West Division title after Ball State, who was also in first place in the MAC West before Friday, fell to Northern Illinois.
CMU will be the No. 4 seed in the MAC Tournament. They receive a first-round bye and play on Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland against either No. 5 Kent State or No. 12 Bowling Green.
They will play 30 minutes after the conclusion of the noon game between Akron and the winner of the first-round game between Eastern Michigan and Toledo. First round games will be played Monday night.
Despite the share of the division title, senior guard Rayshawn Simmons said the team did not feel like it.
“It’s not enough for us, not enough for this group of guys," Simmons said. "We did that last year, so whatever we accomplished last year is not enough for us this year.”
The Chippewas led 42-30 at halftime and led by as much as 18 in the first half, but the Broncos used a 12-3 run to cut the lead to two within the first four minutes.
“I think sometimes the start of games, the start of second halves, can be different than what you expect," said Head Coach Keno Davis. "We just couldn’t get stops, we couldn’t make shots (and) got some calls that went against us. Everything seemed to favor Western Michigan during that stretch and obviously it disrupted us.”
The Broncos grabbed their first lead of the second half when WMU's Tucker Haymond broke a 53-53 tie with four consecutive points. WMU held the lead until a pair of Simmons free throws tied the game 62-62 with 1:30 remaining.
Haymond scored the next three points before Rayson hit the 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to send CMU into their first overtime game of the season.
“That’s what Braylon does," Simmons said. "Chris (and I) know Braylon makes those shots so we’re willing to give him the ball. We have very unselfish guys. We know he’s that guy. When the shot clock’s coming down, we go to Braylon. He makes shots.”
The Broncos outscored the Chippewas 26-17 in the five minutes of extra time to pick up their third straight win against the Chippewas.
“It’s tough," Simmons said. "We lost to our rival at home on our senior night. If that doesn’t motivate you to do better the next game I don’t know why are you playing the game.”
CMU, who shot 56 percent from the field in the first half, finished with a 42 percent field goal percentage. CMU was 9-of-33 from 3-point range, and senior forward John Simons and redshirt sophomore guard Josh Kozinski were a combined 1-of-13 from long distance.
Thomas Wilder paced the Broncos (13-18, 7-11 MAC) with 26 points. He poured in 26 points when the two teams met in Kalamazoo on Feb. 20. The Broncos also were 33-of-48 from the free-throw line and outrebounded the Chippewas 51-37.
Senior guard Chris Fowler said his team lost their intensity and failed to execute after the first half.
“We let our emotions drive us a little too much, and this team has been good at not doing that," Fowler said. "We got up that high and we crashed. When we crashed, we didn’t look pretty.”
CMU turns its attention to Cleveland, where it leaped WMU and seven other teams for a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament. Akron, Ohio and Buffalo hold the first through third seeds, respectively.
Davis said it would have been nice to leave McGuirk Arena with a win, but is proud to have won a share of the MAC West Division title for a second consecutive season.
"To be co-MAC champions of the West and have games to play for to try to be MAC champions to go to the NCAA Tournament means we have to make sure we get this game quickly in the rear-view mirror and stay focused on what we need to do," Davis said.
