Comeback Chips: Men's basketball wins games on depth, pace in second half
Keno Davis said it has been the story of the Central Michigan men's basketball team through nine games this season.
The head coach said his team has utilized a 10-man rotation and a fast-paced offense to wear teams down in the second half. CMU (7-2) outscored Arkansas-Pine Bluff 43-20 in the final 20 minutes on Saturday to break a 39-39 halftime tie and win its third straight game.
“I give our guys credit to be able to play for 40 minutes and wear teams down and take advantage of it in the second half," Davis said.
CMU won its first four games with a lead at halftime, but fell to St. Bonaventure and Arkansas-Little Rock after trailing at halftime and leading at the break, respectively.
The Chippewas have either trailed or tied at halftime in each of their last three games - all of them wins.
"We come out and I don’t know if we look a lot different in the second half than we have in the first but we were able to hold teams way under their average, in percentage and in points," Davis said. "I think the answer that makes the most sense is we’re a deeper team than we’ve been.”
CMU jumped out to a 10-0 run to start the second half Saturday, including a pair of 3-pointers from junior guard Marcus Keene. The Youngstown State-transfer finished with eight threes, tying him for fourth all-time in school history for most 3-pointers made in a game.
During CMU's three-game win streak, Keene has scored at least 31 points. Keene scored 10 second-half points in a win over Wisconsin-Green Bay on Nov. 26 to finish with 31. He tied a career-high with 36 points, including 23 in the second half, in a 91-88 win over William & Mary on Nov. 29. He scored 18 points in the final 20 minutes to finish with 31 against Pine Bluff's 2-3 zone defense.
“We’re a fast-paced team," Keene said. "We’ve been running since preseason and last offseason. The coaches have got us in shape to where we can play two full halves, full speed both halves, and we do wear teams down.”
Junior guard Josh Kozinski, who hit 12 threes combined in the first six games of the season, is 12-of-24 from deep during the past three games.
“I would say it was pre-game jitters but it was good to get back, see a few of them go in and shooters shoot out of it," Kozinski said.
"We just want to make sure we see the intensity and the effort and when we see that, we know that we’re getting better and at times when they’re not, when we’re not seeing that effort or energy, it’s my job to remind them that that’s not acceptable," Davis said.
CMU will look to continue its win streak against the team it faced to start it. The Chippewas host Wisconsin-Green Bay at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6.
After trailing 45-41 at halftime to Green Bay on Nov. 26, the Chippewas went on a 20-8 run to take the contest from the Phoenix.
Davis said the first game could have went either way and he expects the same type of game in the rematch.
"We’re going to have to have our best effort to be able to continue or win streak and be able to beat a really good team that should be playing in the postseason this year," he said.
