Lack of stops leads to third-straight loss for men's basketball


Keene on the verge of MAC history


After playing arguably its best game of the season in a 10-point win at Ohio on Feb. 7, the Central Michigan men’s basketball team was tied for first in the Mid-American Conference West Division and was in a good position with two of its next three games at McGuirk Arena — where it had only lost one time all season.

The Chippewas, however, lost on the road to a faltering Miami (Oh.) squad on Feb. 11 and failed to complete a double-digit comeback to Buffalo last Tuesday. Saturday, CMU (16-11, 6-8 MAC) was able to make up an 11-point second-half deficit, but fell in overtime to Ball State, 109-100.

With the loss, CMU is now two games back of the Cardinals (17-10, 8-6), who also hold the tie breaker after the season sweep.

A common theme for CMU this season has been an apparent lack of energy at times, which has forced it to have to claw back late in games to have a chance. Senior Braylon Rayson and junior Marcus Keene were the driving force in the comeback Saturday, but each played over 40 minutes and appeared wore out in overtime.

Rayson, who scored a career-high 34 points on 9-of-23 shooting, said those minutes add up and can cause some uncharacteristic missed shots.

“(My) legs started to get tired and fatigued,” he said. “It’s a long time to be on the floor and my legs started to get tired. Some shots are supposed to go down and didn’t.”

CMU went 0-for-8 from 3-point range in overtime and was outscored 19-10.

History in the Making

Keene led the game with 40 points on 14-of-36 shooting from the floor. The transfer from Youngstown State recorded his sixth 40-point game of the season — the most of any D-1 player in 20 years. Keene also broke a CMU record with his 106 3-point field goal of the season.

Per usual, the San Antonio, Texas native went off in the second half with 28 points. However, he had none in overtime.

“Floor spaces up some more in the second half,” Keene said. “The first half you can tell they tend to lighting to me and the second half is where I pick it up.”

Keene broke the program record for points in a single season (759) against Buffalo and is only 23 points away from breaking the MAC record (837), set by Ohio’s Gary Trent in 1993-94.

Junior Cecil Williams added 15 points, nine rebounds and three steals on Saturday.

Rayson tied the game on a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left and the Chippewas were able to get a stop to force overtime, but CMU had no answer for BSU’s Taylor Persons late. 

The point guard logged nine points in overtime as part of a career-high 32-point performance. The Cardinals had seven players score in double-figures compared to CMU’s three.

Despite the tough loss, head coach Keno Davis said his team can still turn the season around.

“I don’t lose any confidence in our guys and how we can perform any given night,” he said. “We will try to prepare ourselves for the stretch run and hopefully a long run in March.”

Lack of Defense

Ball State shot 52 percent from the floor and 38 percent from 3-point range in route to its highest scoring out-put this season.

Davis said his team’s lack of defense at times is a concern and needs to particularly improve on the interior to help out on the 3-point line.

“The inside has been a weakness for us to guard the post,” he said. “We knew Ball State was going to present that and then when they hit the threes it’s tough to get help to your inside guys.”

The Chippewas rank third nationally with 89.5 points per game, but are the fourth-worst defensive team in the country at 344 overall.

CMU returns to McGuirk Tuesday night to play the Northern Illinois Huskies (14-13, 6-8). Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Michigan lost in DeKalb, Illinois 87-83 on Jan. 7. 

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