Men's basketball breaks late-game woes with close out of Eastern Michigan


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Senior guard Larry Austin Jr. draws contact on Eastern Michigan University defenders Jan. 29 at McGuirk Arena.

The situation was nothing new for the Central Michigan men's basketball team in the closing minutes against rival Eastern Michigan.

The Chippewas controlled a 80-76 lead with less than two minutes to play and were faced with another chance to close out a game in Mid-American Conference play. 

Coming in, CMU was 1-3 in games determined by five points or less in the MAC during the closing two minutes regulation.

Tonight, the Chippewas broke that spell.

CMU (15-6, 4-4 MAC) hit its free throws down the stretch led by four in a row from senior guard Shawn Roundtree Jr., resulting in an 86-82 win over EMU (9-12, 3-5 MAC) on Jan. 29 at McGuirk Arena.

"After the loss to Toledo we really had a talk about coming together and playing for each other," said junior forward David DiLeo. "It was a three-game losing streak where we were right there at the end. Tonight, we did a better job of pulling out the win."

The win moves CMU to 9-2 at home this season.

What Happened

In the first five minutes, CMU was outscored 6-2 in the paint. However, a pair of 3-pointers from senior guard Shawn Roundtree Jr. and junior guard Dallas Morgan gave CMU a 10-8 edge at the 15:25 mark.

The Eagles started to give the Chippewas trouble with their 2-3 extended zone and it led to a 9-2 run giving them a 25-17 lead with 9:17 remaining in the first half. 

The Chippewas applied double teams inside, forcing EMU to turn it over. The defensive strategy helped guide CMU on an 8-0 run capped off by another Morgan triple to gain a 34-30 advantage with 120 seconds left before halftime.

The Eagles came back to tie the game at 39 all before the break. The Chippewas trimmed the points in the paint deficit to a slim 16-14 Eagles advantage, despite being severely smaller in size.

The second half started with a pair of fouls on junior forward Rob Montgomery to give him four at the 18:04 mark, forcing head coach Keno Davis to his bench. As a result, EMU continued to attack inside, but CMU kept the game close.

Nearing 11 minutes remaining in the second half, senior guard Larry Austin Jr. brought the ball up quickly and pitched it to Roundtree for a transition 3-pointer that he nailed. It was 55-54 – Chippewas in front.

Davis' group didn't stop playing aggressive. Following a triple of his own from the corner, junior forward David DiLeo delivered an and-one bucket to give CMU its largest lead of the game at 64-58 with 9:15 to play. 

"This has been a couple year plan we've had for attacking the Eastern (Michigan) zone," Davis said. "We've got some players that can do a little bit more with getting to the high post and attacking the basket and kicking it out. Larry Austin, Kevin McKay and Rob Montgomery did a god job of attacking that high post for us all night."

Leading by four points with under two minutes to play, CMU slammed the door and earned the win on the back of Roundtree's free throws.

CMU shot 40 percent (10-of-25) from beyond the arc which was a big part of beating the Eagles lengthy zone defense. CMU also shot a season best 26-of-28 (92.9 percent) from the charity stripe.

"(Free throws) were huge for us especially with how we have shot them this season," McKay said. "We lost some games this year because of free throws down the stretch. So for us to shoot a good percentage tonight was hopefully a confidence booster for the games coming up."

All five of the Chippewas starters scored in double figures led by DiLeo's 20 points. Behind him were Roundtree (15) and McKay (14). The scoring was rounded out by Austin and Montgomery with 13 points apiece.

The Chippewas will continue this week with another rival in Western Michigan at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 2 in McGuirk Arena.

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