Men's basketball remains unbeaten at home, cruises past Siena Heights
A slow start on offense for the Central Michigan men’s basketball team blossomed into over 100 points in a 103-75 win over Siena Heights at McGuirk Arena Sunday.
The Chippewas (5-1) were led by junior guard Kevin McKay who scored 23 points. CMU is now 3-0 at home on the season.
“I'm sure some of the travel and days off have something to do with the slow start but part of it was definitely how Siena Heights started this game," said head coach Keno Davis. "They got after us, brought intensity and made shots and probably surpassed the energy we had to start the game. We tried to turn it on and wore them down as the game went on."
What Happened
Things were interesting out of the game. The Saints opened with a 4-of-8 shooting clip from the field and found three offensive rebound to force a CMU timeout and a tie game at 10 all.
Siena Heights would keep the score within single digits until the midway point of the first half. Senior guard Shawn Roundtree would weave his way down the lane, duck under a defender and hit a layup to give CMU a 30-19 lead at the 9:30 mark.
The Saints would battle back and trim the deficit down to single digits. Senior guard Larry Austin Jr. had an answer, scoring seven points in the final five minutes of the half after going scoreless for the first 15 minutes. CMU led 52-38 at halftime.
The Chippewas would start the second half on a 11-5 run, building their largest lead of the game at 63-43. However, the Saints would answer.
"In the second half we were just sharing the ball more and getting everyone involved," McKay said. "In the future, we have to make sure we start the game better."
Following a pair of dunks from Keith Jordan and a triple from the corner by Brandon Thomas, Siena Heights cut the CMU lead down to 15 points at the 15:01 mark of the second half.
Austin would continue his late first half success into the second half where he completely took over. He put in nine second half points with an and-one bucket to give CMU a 77-53 lead with 11:52 remaining. The Chippewas never let their lead get back to single digits and coasted to victory.
The Chippewas shot a season-high 47 free throws and converted 35 of them (74.5 percent). They also shot 51.7 percent from the field and 30 percent (6-of-20) from beyond the arc.
"Our bottom line is if we are getting to the free throw line we have to make free throws, period," Roundtree said. "In the Weber State game it came back to bite us, right? So if we are making it there we have to make free throws."
Behind McKay’s game-high 23 points, Austin and Roundtree each finished with 17 points, DiLeo tallied 14 points with three triples and transfer forward Rob Montgomery led the inside crew with 11 points and five boards.
CMU will head on the road for its first true road game of the 2018-19 season at 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 28 against Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas.
Game notes
- Junior guard Matty Smith did not play due to injury. Davis said he does not have an updated injury report on him to release at this point.
- This is the second consecutive year CMU has played the Saints, winning 108-48 in 2017-18.
