“They were just better,” said Ernie Zeigler. “Better than us at every position.”

And after a 68-42 loss against Ohio Saturday in Athens, Ohio, the Central Michigan men’s basketball head coach is now tasked with finding a way to change course. His team has lost seven straight games — at one time looking like it would be able to compete for a Mid-American Conference West Division title, now fighting to stay out of the league basement.

In what has become a sure bet the past few seasons, CMU struggled offensively out of the gate. The Chippewas fell behind 9-1 in the first three minutes after following a triad of 3-pointers from guards Nick Kellogg and D.J. Cooper.

A Trey Zeigler jumper with 10:16 to go in the first half cut the Bobcats’ lead to 15-11, but that was as close as CMU got the rest of the game. And despite its initial scoring burst, Ohio struggled to shoot the basketball in the first half – shooting just 32 percent from the field and went 4-for-20 in 3-point attempts.

The caveat? The Chippewas weren’t any better, and closed the half shooting 30.8 percent and 1-for-12 from long range. Throw in nine turnovers and 12 OU points off those turnovers and the Bobcats end the half with a comfortable 33-20 lead.

“It’s very difficult (to come back) when you’re playing against a good team, and we’ve been playing against some good teams,” Zeigler said, referring to Ohio’s MAC-best 19-4 overall record and the Chippewas recent losses against perennial MAC East contenders Akron (16-7, 8-1 MAC) and Kent State (16-6). “To overcome going down by double digits early, it makes it very difficult to come back against very good teams.”

The defensive struggles continued in the second half, with OU extending its lead to 16 on a 3-point bucket  from Kellogg (14 points on 5-of-11 shooting) within the first 30 seconds. When junior forward Olivier Mbaigoto responded with a jumper on the  next CMU possession, Ohio junior forward Walter Offutt (game-high 17 points, including four 3-pointers) answered with another 3-pointer of his own.

From there on out, scoring droughts stifled any opportunity for the CMU offense. After Mbaigoto’s jumper at the 18:59 mark, the Chippewas could not muster a field goal — Mbaigoto did make three free throws — for more than five minutes. Later in the half, a four-minute scoreless span was ended when Mbaigoto hit a 3-pointer with 7:45 to go, but Ohio’s lead had blossomed to 20 points. The Bobcats improve to 19-4 overall, a MAC-best, and 7-1 in the league.

Mbaigoto led the team with 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting, while the three scorers relied upon for most of the offensive production (sophomore guards Trey Zeigler and Derek Jackson and freshman Austin McBroom) combined for just 24 points and nine rebounds. Trey had most of those with 10 points and six rebounds.

CMU (7-15, 2-7 MAC) converted just 27 percent of its shots in the second half. Ohio shot a much-improved 50 percent, including 7-of-10 from behind the 3-point line.

“You have to give Ohio credit,” Ernie Zeigler said. “They did a really good job of keying in on our main offensive options, and we struggled to make some open shots as well. They came in with a great gameplan, from the coaching on down. They dominated us in every area.”

And now CMU turns its attention to Buffalo, a team that pushed the Chippewas around — beating them by double digits — twice last season, even knocking them out in the first round of the MAC tournament. The Bulls enter Wednesday’s game at McGuirk Arena 14-6 overall and 7-2 in the MAC, and could very well be CMU’s final chance to try and turn around a once-promising season.

Despite the seven-game slide, Zeigler said he and his staff will continue pushing and teaching his players along the way.

“When you have a young team, that’s all you can do,” Zeigler said. “I’m my stated self. I’m always extremely confident in what we’re doing and how we’re going about it.”

Mose Rison

He was “regrouping,” fired after three seasons as head football coach from then-Division II North Carolina Central.

So Mose Rison got in contact with an old friend, Plas Presnell, director of football operations at Central Michigan. It was last October, and the Chippewas were traveling to Raleigh, N.C., a three-hour jaunt from his home in Charlotte, to play North Carolina State.

Rison, a standout running back and former assistant coach at CMU, had not gotten a chance to see his alma mater play during the season.

Three hours later, following CMU’s 38-24 loss, despite posting 427 yards of offense, Rison was impressed with what he saw.

“Who was that guy?,” Rison asked Presnell, referring to receiver Courtney Williams, who made three catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.

“Who was that guy?,” referring to Titus Davis, who had one catch for 50 yards.

“Those kids are freshmen,” Presenell replied.

“You got to be kidding me,” Rison exclaimed, “Freshmen?”

Three months later, Rison is out of the contract that prevented him from coaching during the 2011 year. And he’s back at CMU, named wide receivers coach Wednesday during head coach Dan Enos’ signing day news conference.

Rison, a Flint native and cousin of former NFL standout receiver Andre Rison, played football at CMU from 1974 to 1977, apart of the Chippewas’ 1974 Division II national championship team.

As a running back, he rushed for 2,838 yards during four seasons. In 1977, as a senior, Rison was named first-team All-Mid-American Conference after rushing for more than 1,241 yards and 12 touchdowns. That year, he was named the team’s Most Valuable Player.

“He was a great player here,” Enos said. “He’s got a ton of experience, a lot of knowledge, and he’ll be able to recruit the state, which we’ve made a huge priority for this football program. He’s an outstanding wide receivers coach, and we’re very blessed and thankful to have Mose with us.”

After graduating from CMU with a bachelor’s degree in 1978, Rison became the program’s wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator in 1981, a position he held through the 1988 season. From there, he went to Navy (1989-90), Rutgers (1991-95) and Stanford (1996-2001) before joining the staff of the New York Jets for the 2002 and 2003 seasons, coaching receivers along the way.

More than two decades later, Rison is back in Mount Pleasant and ready to bring his experience. He said the first thing he plans to do is developing a one-on-one relationship with the team’s receiving corps.

“If you want your players to play at a high level, and do the things you ask them to do, you have to have the relationship,” Rison said. “It was important for me to that have that relationship with Laverneous Coles and Santana Moss and Wayne Chrebet and get those guys to trust what I was doing. The Xs and Os don’t change much. When you a run a curl route with the New York Jets, you run a curl route with Central Michigan.”

Sophomore guard Trey Zeigler gets by Akron's Quincy Diggs during the first half of Saturday night's game at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant. Zeigler finished the game with 16 points, three assists and nine rebounds during the 74-64 loss to the Zips. (Andrew Kuhn/Staff Photographer)

The effort was there Saturday from the Central Michigan men’s basketball team, but it just wasn’t enough to overcome an early double-digit deficit against the top dog in the Mid-American Conference.

Down 31-13 with six minutes to go in the first half, CMU began digging itself out of a whole in the second half. The Chippewas whittled the Zips lead to single digits before going on an 8-3 run and pulling within three following a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Derek Jackson with 3:21 remaining in the game.

But just as quickly as the team got itself back into the game, MAC-leading Akron rattled off eight consecutive points, highlighted by an offensive rebound and subsequent three-point play by center Zeke Marshall following a missed free throw.

Akron, shooting nearly 49 percent, held on to beat the Chippewas 74-64 before 1,787 at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant.

“It’s a game of moments, of instances,” said CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler. “We’re not tough enough in that moment to make those tough plays, be it at the rebounds or knocking down a foul shot to cut it to one or two. It’s (about) seizing those moments.”

Jackson, who scored a game-high 21 points, led an almost exclusive three-pronged CMU scoring attack that included fellow sophomore guard Trey Zeigler (16 points, nine rebounds) and freshman Austin McBroom (14 points, six rebounds). But it wasn’t until others got in the mix that drew the CMU offense closer.

Free throws by junior forward Olivier Mbaigoto with 11:43 to go in the game cut Akron’s lead to 52-44. Mbaigoto followed up minutes later with a 3-pointer, again pulling the Chippewas to within eight. Mbaigoto scored eight points in the game, while junior forward Andre Coimbra added five points, the only other CMU scorers.

The Chippewas shot 33.3 percent in the game, the fifth consecutive game they have shot below 40 percent.

“If you look at the stat sheet tonight, 2-for-10 (Coimbra), 6-for-17 (Zeigler), 2-for-9 (Mbaigoto) … you just have to have some other guys give you some balance,” Ernie Zeigler said. “These guys are working at it, and we’re going to continue to nurture and try and develop that consistent fourth or fifth guy in the rotation.”

Zeigler also voiced his displeasure with the discrepancy in fouls called. CMU was whistled for eight more fouls than Akron (16), sending the Zips to the foul line 36 times. Akron converted 22 of those. The Chippewas, however, were 11-of-13 from the line.

“Those are numbers that you usually see when you’re on the road,” Zeigler said. “But I guess that comes with wearing that bulls-eye with being the No. 1 team in the conference… to go on the road and be able to get those type of opportunities.”

Marshall and forward Nick Harney each scored 13 points for Akron (14-7, 6-1 MAC).

The loss extends the Chippewas losing streak to five games, dropping them to 7-13 overall and 2-5 in the MAC. CMU has not won a game in more than two weeks, a close 60-56 win against Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti.

And it doesn’t get any easier in the next week. CMU welcomes in Kent State (14-6, 4-3 MAC) on Tuesday, which beat Toledo with ease Saturday on the road, and travels to Ohio next Saturday.

“We are a young team,” Jackson said. “We have to get off to better starts in both halves. It seems like we’re always coming back, itching back.

“It’s hard. We just have to keep fighting, and preparing (for Kent State). Hopefully we can get off this losing streak.”

Tipoff Tuesday against the Golden Flashes is set for 7 p.m. at McGuirk Arena. The game will be broadcast live on SportsTime Ohio.

CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler looks on during a loss to Western Michigan last season. On Wednesday, CMU fell 71-58 to Bowling Green, extending its losing streak to four games. (File photo by Andrew Kuhn/Staff Photographer)

A conference season that once appeared promising is now fading — and quickly.

The Central Michigan men’s basketball team dropped its fourth consecutive game Wednesday, shooting 36 percent in a 71-58 loss against Bowling Green before 2,009 at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.

The Chippewas fall to 7-12 overall and 2-4 in the Mid-American Conference, a full two games behind MAC-West leading Ball State.

“I thought we came out with really good energy to battle, get rebounds and put ourselves in a position to make some plays defensively,” CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler said afterward. “Unfortunately, we could not make buckets in the first half. We just struggled, struggled, struggled … (there) was like a lid on the basket.”

The Chippewas came out scrappy, outrebounding Bowling Green 25-19 in the first half – they even converted 12 second-chance points off 10 offensive rebounds. But every other shot, it seemed like, would not fall.

CMU shot a paltry 23.5 percent (8-for-34) and fell behind 31-21 by halftime.

The second half wasn’t much better, despite an offensive flurry from sophomore guard Trey Zeigler. After BGSU opened up a 16-point lead early in the second half, Zeigler, battling the flu all week, and junior guard Finis Craddock helped cut the deficit to 9 points with 10:40 to go. The Falcons responded with a 10-2 run and maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.

Zeigler finished with a game-high 17 points on 8-of-14 shooting and 10 rebounds, his fifth double-double of the season. The rest of the CMU team shot 15-for-39 (30 percent) and 4-of-7 in 3-point attempts.

“He’s trying to respond, he’s trying to mature,” Zeigler said of his son. “We all know what he’s capable of. He gave us everything he had out there. If he continues to give that type of effort, it’s going to allow him to grow and hopefully affect our play as a team as well.”

BGSU (9-10, 3-3 MAC) had four players in double figures, with forwards Scott Thomas and A’uston Calhoun and guard Jordan Crawford each scoring 14 points. Calhoun added 11 rebounds for a double-double, while Crawford added seven assists for the Falcons.

Senior forward Andre Coimbra (12 points, most of which came in the first half) was the only other CMU player to score in double figures. Guards Derek Jackson and Austin McBroom each scored 3 points. The Chippewas outrebounded BGSU 41-29 for the game.

Suspension

Redshirt freshman Auston Barnes did not make the trip to Bowling Green with the team after he was suspended by head coach Ernie Zeigler for what CMU is calling “a violation of team rules.”

Barnes, a 6-foot-6, 196-pound forward from Lansing Waverly High School, has played a total of 67 minutes in 16 games this season. He played 10 minutes Saturday against Western Michigan, recording a pair of steals and rebound in the Chippewas’ 64-61 loss to the Broncos.

The Chippewas return home to host MAC East-leading Akron on Saturday. Tipoff against the Zips (13-7, 5-1 MAC) is set for 7 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.

Aaron McMann/University Editor

Central Michigan Athletic Director Dave Heeke will look into adding at least one women’s sport to help meet Title IX requirements of equal scholarships to men and women.

That much is certain, but let the debate begin for which sport is chosen.

In a story published Jan. 9 in Central Michigan Life, Heeke said the university will begin a year-long process to gauge which sport is the most feasible. The three Mid-American Conference women’s sports not played at CMU (golf, swimming and tennis) are the most logical, but the NCAA also requires schools to look at “emerging sports” — equestrian, sand volleyball and rugby.

It also helps if CMU is currently offering the sport as a club. Heeke said the current athletic budget of about $21 million would not be able to sustain another sport, leaving it up to the university to increase its subsidy to the department.

CM Life analyzed the possible-likely choices for additional women’s sports:

Golf: The sport is mainstream and has been around for ages, plus it’s fairly inexpensive compared to some of the other major existing women’s sports. Most high schools around the state offer golf as a sport, a vital necessity to recruiting and marketing an athletic program state-wide and regionally.

Don’t forget, the Mount Pleasant area boasts several different golf courses that would fit the needs of an NCAA team. Golf is one of the most logical choices, and I would classify it as a highly-likely.

Swimming: While this sport might also seem obvious, given the pool in the Indoor Athletic Complex, I’d put the likelihood of it happening as slim. Heeke has said swimming would require a brand new $20 million facility, complete with a regulation-sized pool.

After recent completion of the CMU Events Center and strife over faculty contracts and university spending, there is no way the university can justify spending that type of money right now.

Tennis: This is another sport likely of being adopted, given its local and regional high school participation. The installation of new tennis courts would be fairly inexpensive, and there’s plenty of room in the Events Center  and athletic fields to make it happen.

Lacrosse: A wild-card many would probably like to see given it’s recent rise in popularity on the east coast, lacrosse would be fun. The sport has begun to take hold nationwide, allowing for fairly easy scheduling, but may require a significant amount of travel.

The team could use the women’s soccer field for practices and games, eliminating the need for a new facility. But the fact remains that no other MAC school sponsors the sport at a collegiate level is a turnoff, and high school participation around the state is still limited.

Equestrian, sand volleyball, rugby: While they might be considered “emerging sports” by the NCAA and CMU is required to consider them, that’s as far as it will get. No other MAC school plays any of these sports at the collegiate level, which would require CMU to find a league or play schools that require lengthy travel for each game.

CMU isn’t willing to jump to another conference for football, which in turn would be increase travel — why would it for a new sport that would likely fight for increased funding?

CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler

An opportunity was missed, and head coach Ernie Zeigler realizes it.

Entering Saturday’s game against 1-13 Northern Illinois, the Central Michigan men’s basketball team had a chance of starting Mid-American Conference play 3-0 for the first time since 1992. The Huskies only win was against NAIA Roosevelt, a team that considered the game a scrimmage on its schedule. But an uncharacteristically strong shooting performance, coupled with travel issues before the game, shocked the Chippewas.

Now, CMU is 2-1 in the league and part of a logjam atop the MAC West.

“We’re just really focusing on a missed opportunity to be sitting at the top of the heap right now,” Zeigler said following the Chippewas 74-66 loss in DeKalb, Ill. “There’s a lot of basketball left to be played, now we got to go and take care of home.”

CMU welcomes Ball State to McGuirk Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday in what could turn out to be a pivotal point in the season. Last season, while still in the hunt for a MAC West title, the Chippewas blew a 23-point second-half lead and lost to the Cardinals. The team went on to lose in the first round of the MAC tournament, ending a season they would rather forget.

Heading into Wednesday’s game, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Ball State sit tied with CMU atop the MAC West at 2-1. The Chippewas play BSU and WMU (in Kalamazoo) over their next two games, and Zeigler said winning at home is going to be key.

“The team that can get the most road wins is probably going to win our side, and get a chance to get one of those seeded births in the tournament,” Zeigler said. “It’s still locked up early.”

The Cardinals boast the best scoring defense in the league, allowing an average of 58 points per game and a conference-best 37 percent defensive field goal percentage. Senior forward Jarrod Jones leads the team with 17.8 points per game, second in the MAC.

CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler

With an opportunity to start 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference for the first time in a decade, Saturday could not have gone any worse for the Central Michigan men’s basketball team.

Prior to the Chippewas game against Northern Illinois, its charter bus failed to start outside the team hotel in Lisle, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. The team, including coaching staff and support staff, were forced to pile into five taxis and make the hour drive to DeKalb.

Waiting for them was a desperate, one-win — and streaky-shooting — Huskies team.

NIU shot 55 percent, including a gaudy 12-of-19 in 3-pointers, and handed the Chippewas a 74-66 loss in front of a sparse crowd of 1,141. CMU fell to 7-9 on the season and 2-1 in the MAC, setting up a logjam atop the West Division with Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Ball State.

GAME BOX SCORE

“We were out-toughed today,” said CMU head coach Ernie Zeigler. “And me making that statement is something that I really struggle with. From the opening tip, they brought it to us.”

NIU caught fire early, sinking six 3-pointers — three from freshman forward Abdel Nader — to take a 20-13 lead. The Chippewas tried to keep it close, even tying the game with 5:56 to go in the first half, but a barrage of 3-pointers allowed the Huskies to regain a double digit lead, 41-28, at half.

NIU, which came into the game second-to-last in the conference in 3-point shooting, 10-of-14 from long-range in the first half, and out-rebounded the Chippewas 22-10. Nader, who scored a game-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting, led the way with 16 points after going a perfect 5-for-5 in 3-point shots.

“They were so much more physical than us,” Zeigler said. “They beat us to every loose ball, to every long rebound. Today, we couldn’t handle our routine being disrupted.”

While Zeigler declined to use the travel issue as an excuse for his team’s performance, he called it a “bus fiasco,” he said his team is too young and immature to handle routine disruptions like that.

“We came out with the idea that we were just going to show up, and we got it handed to us,” Zeigler said. “I’m a routine guy, and we always talk about routines. When we got thrown off our routine coming over here, (and) we were like an AAU team today.”

The Huskies cooled off a bit in the second half, going just 2-of-5 from 3-point distance, but were able to limit the CMU offense from sustaining any type of a significant run. The Chippewas cut it to a 14-point lead to just five with three minutes to go. But freshman guard Austin McBroom stepped out of bounds following a steal.

“Road wins are hard to come by, and we definitely let another one slip away,” Zeigler said. “If we had a better sense of purpose, maybe you can win a hard-fought game if you’re tough enough on the road. But we (have) so many guys in their own maturity states, we don’t have a leader to work us through those tough things.”

Sophomore guard Trey Zeigler led the way for CMU with a team-high 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting and five rebounds. Sophomore Derek Jackson (16 points), McBroom (15) and junior forward Olivier Mbaigoto each scored in double figures.

Sophomore forward Aksel Bolin scored 13 points and freshman guard Stian Berg added 12 points, all  from 3-point shots, for NIU (2-13, 1-2 MAC).

The Chippewas return home Wednesday to play Ball State (10-5, 2-1 MAC). Tipoff is 7 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.

Contact Aaron McMann at aaron.mcmann@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter for breaking CMU athletics updates.

Mansour Albukhudaim was convicted Friday morning of attempted third-degree criminal sexual conduct and assault and battery for trying to rape a 26-year-old woman on July 15 in his apartment at University Meadows, 4310 Sterling Way, in Union Township, according to a release from the office of Prosecuting Attorney Larry Burdick. A neighboring tenant heard the woman’s screams and contacted the apartment complex’s security guards.

Albukhudaim faces up to five years, three months in prison for the convictions. The jury acquitted him of charges of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration and fourth-degree sexual assault, the release said.

Sentencing is set for Feb. 10. Judge Mark Duthie canceled the bond for Albukhudaim, who remains lodged in Isabella County jail.

Albukhudaim, whose age was not released, is listed in the CMU directory as a freshman.

(Photo illustration by Victoria Zegler)

Editor’s note: This article incorrectly stated new adult websites are required by law to register .xxx domains. This is only a voluntary option for said websites.

Central Michigan University continues to buy up .xxx domains, recently completing the purchase of a third and waiting on final approval of a fourth.

In October, the nonprofit group Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers allowed universities, businesses and groups to buy up domain names that end in “.xxx” in an effort to prevent adult companies from using their name or trademark. Universities across the country have since raced to buy all related domains ending in .xxx. Adult websites have been known to use the image and logos of popular universities to create college-themed material. While not law, new adult websites are encouraged, but not required, to register their domains in .xxx format.

Each domain name was purchased through ICANN for $1,299.90 for a 10-year license, costing the university about $5,200.

Last month, CMU purchased cmich.xxx and cmuchippewas.xxx, protecting its two largest and most recognized outlets on the Internet. Since then, the university has bought thisiscentral.xxx and is waiting on final approval of CentralMichiganUniversity.xxx, director of public relations Steve Smith said in an email. The slogan “This is Central” has been used by the university as a promotional tool in recent years, including commercials that appeared during nationally-televised CMU football games.

“The reasoning for the purchase is to protect the university from inappropriate use of its name,” Smith said.

In addition to protecting the CMU image, purchasing .xxx domain names will help prevent users from coming across adult websites while searching for university-related events or pages, Smith said.

CMU was among the first schools to snatch up .xxx domains, along with Penn State University, Purdue University, the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Indiana University, according to a Detroit Free Press report. The University of Michigan bought 21 .xxx domain names in December, also an effort to protect the school’s identity. U-M spent $28,000 to reserve 14 URLs, according to the report. Grand Valley State University has purchased gvsu.xxx.

Mark McDonald, director of networks in the Office of Information Technology, said the proactive approach is important to protecting the university’s image on the World Wide Web.

“In most cases, proactive is better,” McDonald said. “In this case, I see no reason to be reactive. There are liabilities and people will get confused, and they should limit that liability.”

Michigan State University, Lake Superior State University, Wayne State University and Western Michigan University have not reserved any .xxx domains.

Tom Jackson, a Waterford junior, said Jane Johnson, assistant director of Academic Advising, still has not responded to a Nov. 15 email requesting documents regarding his termination. Jackson said he has since filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the information and plans to send them to the American Civil Liberties Union. In an email, he said he plans to set up a meeting with Michelle Howard, director of Academic Advising, “to discuss her lack of even properly terminating my position.”

“This was never properly followed through, since her only request via phone was to take down literature I had posted, which I complied with and nothing else came of it,” Jackson said. “The literature I had posted had no connection to the labor meeting I was organizing.”

Jackson alleges he was fired for organizing a meeting with colleagues over Blackboard to discuss the tutoring service’s policies in early October. Central Michigan University Police were sent to investigate Jackson after Johnson filed a complaint.

According to the police report, published in Central Michigan Life in November, Johnson asked Jackson to remove messages and stop further postings on Blackboard after becoming aware of the emails to colleagues. A meeting was scheduled between Jackson and Johnson in the Academic Advising office, the report said, but Jackson came to the office prior to the meeting questioning its validity. Colleagues of Johnson’s described Jackson as “intimidating.”

Jackson said the only meeting he has had with Johnson during the entire deal was to “end his position.”

“She was the judge, jury and executioner,” Jackson said. “I was never given time to defend myself or explain myself. It was stated to me that I was fired almost as soon as I had walked into the meeting.”

According to Student Employment Services guidelines, a supervisor must talk to the student about problems before any action is taken. Jackson maintains the procedures were never followed.

Jackson said he has not hired an attorney because he cannot afford one, but has contacted Brenda Bovee, a paralegal with the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union, for legal advice. Bovee said she has spoken with Jackson, but only for guidance.

Jackson said he plans to use social networking to “rally support for my cause, (because) I have seen the profound impact it has on affecting the outcome of any social injustice,” he wrote.

Representatives from the the Office of Academic Advising and Institutional Equity office have declined comment throughout the situation.

- Senior Reporter Catey Traylor contributed to this report.