Men's basketball tops Northwood with 44 free throws
The maroon team huddles during a timeout at the Maroon and Gold Scrimmage on Oct. 19 at McGuirk Arena.
Central Michigan men's basketball scored over half of its points from the free-throw line in its 81-71 win over Northwood.
“This is exactly what you want out of an exhibition game," head coach Keno Davis said. "Making free throws says a lot about our players. The credit goes to those guys for the type of shooters they are, and to our assistant coaches for recruiting them,” Davis said.
Neither team shot over 40 percent in the first 10 minutes of the game.
CMU was 0-for-6 from three-point range while Northwood was 0-for-5, when Alec Marty drained a triple from the left-wing to give the Timberwolves the lead at 20-19 with just under 10 minutes left in the opening half.
The Chippewas were able to tie the game at 25, but the Timberwolves went on a 6-0 run to take a 31-25 lead.
Before halftime, CMU was able to gain some ground back, leading to a 39-38 Northwood advantage.
CMU only managed to shoot 33.3 percent (9-for-27) from the field in the first half, but went 18-for-22 from the free-throw line. CMU was just 2-for-11 from beyond the arc at the half.
The Timberwolves shot 51.4 percent (18-for-35) from the floor, but committed eight turnovers compared to CMU’s three and only attempted two free throws in the fist half.
Neither team could pull away from each other to open the second half. The teams were tied at 52 heading into a timeout with 11:43 remaining in the game.
After a technical foul called on Northwood’s Trey McBride, CMU capitalized with four made free throws, extending it’s lead to 65-58 with 6:45 left in the game.
As the Northwood fouls continued to pile up, CMU continued to drain free throws. CMU shot 33.3 percent (15-for-45) from the field on the game, but the 44 points from the free-throw line made up for it.
Senior forward Cecil Williams led all scorers with 18 points and added seven rebounds. Sophomore Kevin McKay had a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
McKay admitted that he wanted to beat the Division II Timberwolves more handily, but he said a win is a win.
“I think we did good in terms of rebounding, attacking the rim, and obviously the free throws were great,” McKay said. “We’re a 3-point shooting team and they just didn't drop tonight, I think that will change.”
McKay added how they were able to attack the rim with the triples not falling says a lot about the versatility of the team.
“We have a lot of shooters but even our shooters can drive if they have too,” McKay said. “We can attack in a lot of different ways and it makes us more deadly on the offensive end.”
CMU will take on Siena Heights at 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10 at McGuirk Arena.
