Men's basketball finishes tight game to top Northern Illinois


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Senior guard Shawn Roundtree calls a play against IU South Bend on Dec. 30 at McGuirk Arena.

In another tight game heading into the closing minutes, the Central Michigan men's basketball team was faced with a challenge of finishing out a game it led for the entire night.

This time, CMU wasn't giving away a loss. The Chippewas (14-3, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) closed the game on a 12-4 run and took the 78-69 victory from Northern Illinois (10-7, 3-1) on Jan. 15 in the Convocation Center.

"We've been pretty good on the road this year and I'm not sure why," said head coach Keno Davis. "Other than TCU we've played exceptionally well. Hopefully we can continue this in MAC play because no wins come easy, needless to say on the road."

For the first time since the 2006-07 season, CMU started MAC play with a 2-0 record on the road. For the season, CMU is 4-1. 

What happened

The Chippewas opened the game on a 16-6 run to lead early led by a pair of 3-pointers from junior forward David DiLeo. CMU would keep pouring it on for most of the half.

Entering the final five minutes of the first half, the Chippewas had built themselves a 31-21 advantage. However, the Huskies closed the half on a 6-0 run and made it 31-27 at the break.

CMU started the second half with three consecutive triples but the Huskies would counter right away with another 6-0 run to trim their deficit down to 44-39.

The Huskies would continue to get closer, led by the MAC's leading scorer Eugene German's 13 points and the Huskies trailed just 57-56 with just over eight minutes to play.

The Chippewas responded. Senior guard Shawn Roundtree hit a triple and a pair of free throws to give CMU a 74-65 lead with 48 seconds left. CMU would go on to win with ease. 

CMU knocked down 13 triples on the night in 29 attempts (44.8 percent) which helped them stay in front when the Huskies would close the gap on CMU's lead. Roundtree led CMU with 21 points and DiLeo was right behind him with 18 tallies. Junior forward Rob Montgomery had 16 points while McKay added 10, respectively.

Senior guard Larry Austin Jr., who leads the team in scoring at 19.3 points per game, scored just one point against NIU but managed to produce nine assists and three steals.

"I would start with Larry Austin," Davis said. "He usually scores and tonight he has nine assists which says a lot about who he is. They guarded him well by the basket but it opened up opportunities for other players."

The Chippewas once led by 13 in this game and allowed the Huskies to tie it late in the second half. Davis was proud of how quick his team learned from losing the lead late against Bowling Green on Jan. 12.

"This group came back to practice after a loss that easily couldve led to a hangover but they wanted to get back to work," Davis said. "It says a lot about the character of this group."

With the win, CMU is back on top of the MAC West Division and holds the tiebreaker against NIU.

Whats next

CMU will return back to McGuirk Arena for its third home game of conference play after splitting the first two. This time the Chippewas will be entertaining Ball State at 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 19. 

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