Men's basketball drops seventh straight to WMU in regular season finale
Coming into this rivalry season finale, the Central Michigan men’s basketball team had lost six straight games, while Western Michigan had won seven in a row.
Both teams came ready for a victory to close the regular season, but it was the Broncos who pulled away at the end.
WMU topped the Chippewas by a final score of 88-80.
Senior guard Braylon Rayson and junior guard Marcus Keene led CMU with a combined 63 points on 20-for-43 shooting.
Rayson said he was aggravated by a play early in the game, which got him going on his five-straight 3-pointer streak in the first half.
“I got poked in the eye to be honest with you and that made me pretty mad,” Rayson said. “I was just able to knock down the shots. I think tonight shows we have been working extremely hard, obviously playing with a team that has one eight straight games”
Head coach Keno Davis said his team's effort was better tonight, but they needed more in the second half to get the job done.
“Our effort tonight was what we didn't see in the last game. We played just about as hard as we could,” Davis said. “We shot 25 percent in the second half and on the road that won’t be good enough. I was really proud of our team for being able to bounce back and play this hard after the tough loss on senior night.”
Both teams traded buckets for the first nine minutes of the game with the Broncos leading 20-16.
After another five minutes of the same kind of play with Keene doing most of the scoring for CMU, Rayson woke up.
The 5-foot-9 senior hit five straight 3-pointers to give the Chippewas a 41-37 lead. It forced WMU to call a timeout at the 3:27 mark.
WMU responded with a 7-2 run to take the lead, ending the half at 44-43.
Keene and Rayson combined for 39 of the Chippewas first half points. As a team, CMU shot 51.5 percent from the floor and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc. CMU was out-rebounded by the Broncos 21-15 in the first half.
To open the second half, it was another slow first few minutes until the Broncos opened a 8-0 run putting them ahead 58-50 and forcing CMU into a timeout with 15:02 left. Keene responded with seven points for the Chippewas to keep the score within reach.
However, the Broncos controlled most of the last 12 minutes of the game. CMU was down nine with three-consecutive stops midway through the second half, but could only score two points.
Lost in the shuffle of another CMU (16-15, 6-12 Mid-American Conference) loss, was another record for Keene. The San Antonio, Texas native is the first player in MAC history to score more than 900 points in a single season. Keene currently has 918 points.
“That record means a lot to me individually because of all the work I have put in, but we have lost seven straight,” Keene said. “It is what it is, but as far as my record, that’s just me putting in all of the work in the off-season.”
No other Chippewa besides Rayson and Keene recorded double figures in scoring. CMU shot 37.5 percent from the field and 36.1 (13-for-36) percent from 3-point distance for the game. The Chippewas committed 11 turnovers while getting out-rebounded 48-36.
The Broncos were led by Thomas Wilder who scored 27 points, Haymond was his partner in crime with 24. WMU shot an even 50 percent for the game and 42.9 percent (9-for-21) from beyond the arc.
Davis said moving into the MAC tournament they need to get past the losing stretch, and get back to playing how they were earlier this season.
“Going in on a losing stretch is obviously difficult, but we need to get passed that right now and get back to being on the level we were earlier this year,” Davis said. “I hope tonight turns into some energy and gives us some confidence, and we will take our chances on Monday.”
With the loss, CMU will be the No. 11 seed in the MAC tournament. The Chippewas will take on the No. 6 seed on March 6, with a time still to be decided.
