McKay’s 33-point outing leads men’s basketball to 80-72 win over NIU
Sophomore guard Kevin McKay dribbles the basketball during the game against Buffalo on Feb. 6 at McGuirk Arena.
Sophomore guard Kevin McKay scored 33 points as the Central Michigan men’s basketball team snuck out of DeKalb victorious against the Huskies.
On Feb. 13, the Chippewas (16-10, 5-8 Mid-American Conference) took down Northern Illinois (11-15, 4-9 MAC), 80-72, on the road at the NIU Convocation Center.
“Not only did (McKay) lead us with 33 points, he was working defensively,” said CMU head coach Keno Davis. “A lot of times he was on their best player giving pressure and rebounding the ball. He came up big in a nice road win.”
Going one-of-two from the free throw line 24 seconds into the game, junior forward James Lacey opened the scoring. Lacey’s bucket from the charity stripe sent the Huskies on a 7-0 scoring run to start the game.
CMU’s first points came with 16:17 left in the first half from McKay, who checked in just 1:19 into the game. He bagged two free throws to stop the run by Northern Illinois.
Following two layups, McKay made his second highlight reel play of the game on a steal leading to a slam dunk. The spectacular play gave CMU a 12-11 edge with 14:07 remaining in the first half.
Three straight 3-pointers for freshman guard Eugene German pushed Northern Illinois ahead of CMU, 22-18, with just over a minute until the halfway point in the first half. Through German’s first eight minutes of action, he had 14 points on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown.
Redshirt freshman center Innocent Nwoko, using his 6-foot-11 stature, threw down a slam dunk to tie the game for CMU, 27-27, with 7:31 left in the first half.
After Northern Illinois went on a short scoring run, CMU senior guard Josh Kozinski gave the Chippewas the lead, 40-39, on 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining in the first half.
“I wouldn’t expect this team to go 3-for-9 from three, especially when we made 19 3-pointers on them in game one, but hopefully that’s something we can get figured out,” Davis said.
The first half, which saw the Chippewas hold a 40-39 lead, was a battle between McKay and German.
At the break, German, the MAC’s leading scorer, tallied 19 points, six rebounds and one assist. On the other side of the ball, McKay had 17 points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench for the Chippewas.
German finished the game with 23 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
“With (German), it starts in transition,” Davis said. “(In the second half), he wasn’t getting those fast-break opportunities. We knew he wanted to put his head down and get to the rim, but we played a lot of box-on-one with him. We put it in on the fly.”
Northern Illinois junior forward Levin Bradley scored a layup to start the second half, but sophomore forward David DiLeo followed it up with a triple, giving CMU a 43-41 lead just 30 seconds into the second half.
On a miss from freshman guard Matt Beachler with 14:10 left, McKay grabbed the offensive rebound, drew a foul, scored, and converted on the and-one free throw, giving CMU a Central Michigan a 54-50 edge.
With 9:18 remaining in the game, freshman guard Gairges Daow knocked down a 3-pointer, giving Northern Illinois a 63-59 lead.
To take a 64-63 lead, McKay dished the ball to Beachler, who scored a layup for his first points of the game with 6:30 left in the battle. Just three minutes later, McKay put the Chippewas ahead by three points on an and-one bucket inside.
McKay picked up his fourth foul with 3:04 remaining, forcing Davis to pull his star player towards the end of the game to protect him from fouling out.
Following his return, McKay scored four-straight points, giving CMU an 80-72 win over Northern Illinois.
McKay finished with a career-high 33 points, along with seven rebounds and three assists on 14-of-20 shooting from the field.
“I wouldn’t say it’s his breakout game because every time he’s on the court, he’s showing what he can do,” Davis said. “It’s going to be exciting to see what he can do for the rest of the year.”
Junior guard Shawn Roundtree Jr. chipped in 16 points for the Chippewas. Senior forward Cecil Williams added 10 points, five rebounds and three assists.
The Chippewas return home to Mount Pleasant for a matchup against in-state rival Eastern Michigan (15-11, 6-7 MAC) at 7 p.m. on Feb. 17 at McGuirk Arena.
“We’ve got to be able to execute,” Davis said. “We haven’t seen five possessions of zone defense since we played (EMU) the first time, so we have to work on our execution of that.”
