Men's basketball eliminated from MAC West contention
Following its fourth straight loss and worst defeat of the season, head coach Keno Davis felt his team’s performance was perfectly summed up by a technical error early in the game on Tuesday.
“It was a bad omen that the clock didn’t start," he said. "Our team didn’t start either.”
From the opening tip, it was evident which team wanted it more.
Northern Illinois came flying out of the gates while the Central Michigan men’s basketball team appeared exhausted from its overtime loss to Ball State Saturday on its way to a 89-66 defeat to the Huskies Tuesday night at McGuirk Arena.
The loss eliminated the Chippewas from contention for a third-straight Mid-American Conference West Division title.
CMU had everything to play for heading into a three-game home stand tied for the division lead, but the team trailed by double-digits in all three games and never made up the difference.
In its four-game losing streak, the Chippewas allowed an average of 94 points per game and fell to two teams with four-game losing streaks of their own.
On Tuesday, the Huskies out-hustled CMU and handed the Chippewas their worse loss in MAC play and largest home defeat in over a year.
NIU led 32-16 within 10 minutes of the first half and got almost everything it wanted around the rim. On the other hand, CMU missed several open shots and began the contest shooting a mere 3-of-20 from the field and 1-of-11 on 3-pointers.
“I feel like we just weren’t ourselves tonight,” said senior guard Braylon Rayson. “We just didn’t make any shots and we didn’t hit the ones we usually make. Tonight was just a punch in the mouth and we need to wake up.”
The Chippewas attempted another home comeback in the second half, but could never get the deficit within single-digits.
Center Marin Maric was dominant all night for the Huskies as the big man shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the field and pulled down 10 rebounds to get the double-double.
NIU out-scored CMU 50-20 in the paint and had five players score in double-figures. Point guard Levi Bradley got to the bucket at will and scored a team-high 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
While CMU struggled on the defensive end, the nation’s No. 3 scoring offense shot its worst game in conference play, finishing at 35 percent overall and 24 percent behind the 3-point line.
“Coaches around the country look at scores every night and shake your head like ‘how did that happen?’ I don’t have an answer for it,” Davis said. “Only the belief that it isn’t something that is going to lapse into our next game.”
Junior Marcus Keene scored 18 points on 4-of-16 shooting and only 1-of-7 on 3-pointers. It was his second-lowest total in MAC play and first game all season he failed to make more than one shot behind the arc.
Rayson’s 12-game streak of scoring at least 20 points came to an end as the Dallas, Texas, native scored only 10 on 2-of-8 shooting, however, Rayson did break the program record for career 3-pointers, previously held by former Chippewa John Simons.
Junior Josh Kozinski went scoreless for the first time all season, shooting 0-of-7 from the 3-point line.
Central Michigan has three games remaining, starting with Toledo on Friday. At this point, the Chippewas are playing for seeding and attempting to earn a home game in the first round of the MAC Tournament on March 6.
“It was a tough couple (of) losses prior to this game, but our guys are excited about the post-season,” Davis said. “Whether that’s a home game, whether that’s a road game, playing in your conference tournament is something they’re going to remember for a long time.”
