This will be the second game with starting freshmen Crystal Bradford, Jessica Green, and Jas’Mine Bracey back since being suspended after a fight during a game against Ohio University on Jan. 25. With the reappearance of these three freshmen, the Chippewa basketball team aspires to regain mojo lost when they were suspended.

“The return of those players adds strength to the team by having everyone back,” said sophomore forward Taylor Johnson.

Buffalo is 0-4 against Mid-American Conference opponents at home. During these home games, Buffalo is averages 67.5 points per game while allowing an average of 79.8 points by opponents.

Head coach Sue Guevara’s main focus points for Saturday are transition defense and knowledge of the opposing team’s players.

“Buffalo contains an array of players,” Guevara added. “Some can post up and grab rebounds, while others are deadly outside of the arc.”

Johnson said he feels focusing on the defense, especially rebounding, can help the Chippewas pull off a win.

“If we can treat Saturday as every other game, and not go out with a mindset that we are going to crush them, or we are going to lose, but focus on playing together as a team, anything is possible,” she said.

Buffalo currently averages 38 rebounds per game, led by forward Beth Christensen, who averages 7.7. CMU has an average of 43.2 rebounds per game, which is headed by Bradford, with an average of 8 per game.

Buffalo’s leading scorer is guard Brittney Henderson, averaging 20.6 points per game. Bradford also leads CMU in scoring with 14.4 points per game.

CMU (13-6, 4-1 Mid-American Conference) is in a six-team bracket with Cornell, Illinois, Oklahoma, Purdue and American, four of which are ranked in the top 25 nationally according to InterMat.

The Chippewas will face Purdue in the first round Sunday at the NWCA/Cliff Kleen National Duals. They are the No. 4 seed and Purdue is the No. 5 seed.

“I know we should be able to be very competitive,” head coach Tom Borrelli said. “We want to be successful.  We would like to go have some success individually and as a team.”

If the Chippewas win their first match, they will take on the No. 1 seed Cornell in the semi-finals. The Purdue match will be at 10 a.m. Sunday. If CMU beats Purdue, the Cornell semi-finals will start at noon.

“If we make the semifinals, we should have a real good challenge,” Borrelli said.

Junior Donnie Corby said he expects it to be quality competition throughout the Mat Mayhem Regional.

“I’m really excited to go there because I know it will be tough competition,” Corby said. “If we wrestle Cornell, they have a two-time national champion in my weight class (157-pounds).  I’m pretty excited to wrestle him because it’s going to show me where I’m at.”

Junior Kyle Dake of Cornell is currently ranked No.1 nationally at 157-pounds.

Corby has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success the past four weeks, going 6-1 in his last seven dual meets.

“I’ve been working harder in practices and doing the little things that really make the match,” Corby said.

The Boilmakers are 8-9 overall and are coming off a 19-16 win at Indiana last Sunday.  They have three wrestlers ranked in the top 20 nationally.

Junior Ivan Lopouchanksi is 12-3 on the season and is ranked eleventh at 133-pounds.  No. 9 Cashe’ Quiroga is 14-4 at 149-pounds and No.11 Braden Atwood is 19-8 at 184-pounds.

This is the first time the National Duals will feature a regional format. The four winners of each region will move on to compete for the National Championship on Feb. 19.

Even if CMU loses its first match, it is still guaranteed another match. Borrelli likes the new format.

“I think it’s a real good change for college wrestling,” he said.

He said he also thinks it will be great preparation for the NCAA Tournament.

“Everybody says that dual meets don’t mean anything when it comes to the national tournament, but they do,” Borrelli said.  “Usually the best dual meet teams also win the NCAA tournament.  If you have strong individuals whether it’s a dual meet or a tournament, those guys are going to do well.”

Head coach Jerry Reighard is looking forward to having some of his former athletes back in town.

“We have our former alumni come back for a gathering,” Reighard said. “It’s just a good time for everyone, some come over to our house for a pregame meal. Then on Saturday they all sit in the club and cheer us on.”

The Chippewas (4-0 in the MAC) will have to overcome injury problems when they host Kent State (2-1).

Senior Samantha Piotrowski, sophomore Emily Heinz and a handful of freshmen have been lost for much of the season with injuries.

Reighard said he knows injuries are part of the sport, but admits that this many injuries are not common.

Sophomore Meaghan McWhorter, and freshman Rebecca Druien are overcoming serious injuries. They should return to competition this weekend baring any set backs.

“It’s not common, it’s a lot of injuries, we’re not used to that,” Reighard said. “Some of the injuries happened to freshmen athletes before they even got here. The bulk of injuries happen in practice, we fall a lot. We’re a contact sport, but we don’t wear pads.”

Senior Kristin Teubner is coming off her best meet of the season, scoring a 39.275 all-around score. That helped Teubner earn MAC gymnastic of the week honors.

Scoring a 196 as a team score is always the goal for CMU under Reighard. This year however, the team has fallen short, averaging scores in the 192 range.

Reighard is looking to pick up a few more points this weekend against the Golden Flashes.

“If everybody on the team improves by a half of tenth, that’s one point toward the team score,” Reighard said. “Our biggest obstacle is we haven’t had a meet, where we haven’t counted a fall. Last weekend we had two falls each in two events, there’s two points right there.”

Even with all the falls, Reighard said he is still confident with the team he has put together during all the injuries.

“I’m confident we have the personnel to do so,” Reighard said “But it’s going to take everyone’s best physical and mental effort.”

CMU is going through a tough stretch on the schedule. The team placed third in the Illinois/Michigan Challenge, and lost to Texas Woman’s University the week before.

Reighard is poised to stay undefeated in the MAC. He said it’s what matters to him the most.

“It’s paramount. That’s our number one goal,” Reighard said. “At the end of the season, the team with the best MAC record gets to choose what event they start on at the tournament.”

Central Michigan has dropped its first five games against the East division, but at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Oxford, Ohio. The Chippewas are still uncertain of Trey Zeigler’s status.

The RedHawks are last in the MAC East with a 7-15 overall record and 3-7 in the MAC.

Miami forward Julian Mavunga is tied for the conference lead in scoring with Toledo’s Rian Pearson, averaging 17.3 points per game.

Along with a winless record against the MAC East, CMU is in the midst of an eight-game losing streak and junior Finnis Craddock said the team has to do whatever it takes to get a win.

“Whatever we can do, whatever we can do is what it’s going to take,” he said. “Hard work and dedication.”

That hard work and dedication might need to come from the defense, which has quite possibly been its best offense lately.

In the 66-62 loss Wednesday against Buffalo, the Chippewas forced 14 turnovers and scored 21 points of them.

“It’s a huge part for us,” said head coach Ernie Zeigler said after the loss to Buffalo. “I thought guys did an excellent job of executing our game plan. We were able to get out in transition. Derek (Jackson) got a couple of alley-oop dunks out of it, and that’s how we have to manufacture points when you struggle to knock down those open ones.”

After Mavunga, the RedHawks take a huge hit offensively. Mavunga averages almost seven more points than the team’s second-leading scorer, Brian Sullivan.

Point guard Jorddan Myrick will continue to be out of the lineup because of a lingering hip injury according to Ernie.

Expect backup point guard John Morris to see extended minutes in the absence of Myrick. He played 12 minutes in Wednesday’s loss, dishing out three assists.

Trey Zeigler went flying into the Buffalo bench with 5:39 remaining during the first half Wednesday at McGuirk Arena.

Zeigler, who is Central Michigan men’s basketball team’s leading scorer, attempted to return, but couldn’t. Head coach Ernie Zeigler said it was a lower-back injury and Trey will be re-evaluated.

Despite the injury, CMU rallied without the sophomore guard, but couldn’t overcome the physical play from Buffalo.

It lost 66-62, dropping its eighth-straight game.

“It’s frustrating, because we still can’t pull out a win,” said junior guard Finnis Craddock. “It’s tough, but in the locker room, we keep telling each other that we need to stay together and we have to keep fighting to dig out of this.”

The main contributor in Trey’s absence was forward Olivier Mbaigoto.

The junior scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting and led a comeback that fell short.

The Chippewas went on a 10-0 run late in second half, cutting an 11-point UB lead down to one.

But the game was sealed when Buffalo forward Mitchell Watt swatted away the Chippewas chances of winning.

Austin McBroom stole the ball from Jarod Oldham, but was rejected by Watt with 1:18 remaining in a four-point game.

McBroom, who scored 11 points, appeared to have an uncontested layup, but couldn’t cut it to a one-possession game after Watt sent the ball back. CMU never got closer from that point on.

“We’re going to remain confident in what we’re doing,” Ernie said after the loss.

The frontcourt tandem of Javon McCrea and Watt were a main reason why CMU still carry the losing streak.

McCrea dropped a team-high 16 points and Watt scored 15. McCrea also hauled 10 rebounds and Watt had seven.

Their ability to rebound the ball helped lead a 48-27 outburst on the glass for the Bulls.

“They’re just a one-two punch,” Ernie said. “Both of them can score. Both of them made plays down the stretch that sealed the game for them.”

CMU guard Austin Keel kept the team in it down the stretch, knocking down 3-of-5 3-point attempts, but the struggles on the glass were too much to overcome.

Ernie said the lack of ‘quality’ depth in the front court was too much to withstand losing Trey.

Buffalo’s struggles at the free-throw line (10-for-23), kept the Chippewas around and they took advantage.

CMU went to the line 20 times in the second half, making 17, but still couldn’t muster up a victory.

The Chippewas have their last chance to get a win against a Mid-American Conference East opponent at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Miami (OH) in Oxford, Ohio.

Central Michigan head coach Dan Enos walks the sidelines of Commonwealth Stadium Sept. 10 as the Chippewas lost to the University of Kentucky 27-13. (Andrew Kuhn/Assistant Photo Editor)

Head Football Coach Dan Enos’ contract was extended for one year, Athletics Director Dave Heeke announced Wednesday.

Enos is in his third year of the original five-year contract.

Enos’ contract has a base salary of $250,000, plus an annual media bonus of $75,000 for working with radio and TV, totaling $325,000 annually. The extension comes with no increase in base salary or buyout provisions.

“I commend Dan on his patience and courage over the past two seasons and thank our many fans who have stood behind this program as we have done the things necessary to rebuild and maintain success,” Heeke said.

The Chippewas recorded back-to-back 3-9 seasons during Enos’ first two years as coach.

“I can’t say enough about the support our program has received from our director of athletics, Dave Heeke, and the rest of our administration,” Enos said. “We share the expectation that our program will compete for championships on the field and achieve academic excellence in the classroom.”

Derek van der Merwe, deputy director of athletics and chief operating office, said a policy is being finalized that would eliminate the open access that students have to go freely in and out of the football stadium.

The policy has already taken effect for basketball games.

Another new policy that will take effect next year is scanning tickets. That will give Central Michigan athletics a more accurate number more quickly.

“We’ll be able to have those in a much quicker way,” said CMU Athletics Director Dave Heeke. “Scanning is important to us. We’ll have a much truer number in more timely way.”

Heeke still is not sure how those numbers will be calculated in the announced attendance though. Last season CMU counted free distributed tickets to the community whether they went to the game or not.

“We’ll have to evaluate how we want to report that attendance number,” Heeke said. “When we’ve done these things in the past people have come. We’ve not changed the way we’ve done our business. With schedule and team not performing as well as they have in the past, people are not showing up. Its been a little bit of a change for us.”

Heeke also cited students trading student ID’s and making false ID’s for a reason to bring in the scanners.

“We want to assure our student body are the ones coming and being rewarded,” Heeke said. “We know there’s a lot of ID trading, and that there has been false ID’s produced in the past from recent graduates.

“We’ll be able to buckle down.”

The scanning policy will replace the clicker counts and ticket stub collect that CMU has used.

“There’s certainly room for error there,” Heeke said of the clicker counting. “But I think we’ve been pretty accurate. We’ve done the best we can.”

Sophomore guard Trey Zeigler has gotten help offensively, the big men have sporadically out-rebounded opponents, but the team has not found a way to get over the hump.

The Chippewas haven’t shot above 39 percent from the field in 15 of the team’s 22 games this season. When they do, they are 5-2. Head coach Ernie Zeigler said he needs to see more confidence from his shooters.

“Some of these (missed shots) have just been point-blank layups,” Ernie said. “They’ve contributed to teams going on extended runs against us and where we’ve gone through these scoring droughts of two, three and four minutes at a time.”

Some of these extended runs have contributed to the reason CMU looks to snap a seven-game losing streak at 7 p.m. today against Buffalo at McGuirk Arena.

“I think everyone is confident,” Ernie said. “We talked about keep fighting to get better. It’s a new week, new day, and we need to keep fighting to get better. There’s a light at the end of this tunnel, and yes, we’re deep in the tunnel right now, but we got to find a way to scratch and claw and let that light shine through.”

Finding the light will be difficult against a Buffalo team that’s tied on top of the Mid-American Conference in scoring, averaging 75.4 points per game.

It won’t help that the Chippewas are thin in the front court, an aspect the Bulls dominate.

Buffalo hauled 18 offensive rebounds in a 72-65 victory Saturday against Toledo. The Bulls are fourth in the MAC in category and first in defensive rebounds.

“It’s going to be tough, because it is one of their trademarks,” Ernie said about the physicality and rebounding ability of Buffalo. “It’s definitively going to be a key, key point of emphasis for us if we’re going to have some success here.”

CMU will be without point guard Jorddan Myrick, who has re-aggregated a hip injury. Ernie said he will be held out at least until Monday.

Myrick, a freshman, has started in one game and has played in 14.

Dorian Dawson

The Central Michigan defensive line will be short a young piece for the 2012 season.

Follow his freshman season, defensive lineman Dorian Dawson transferred back home to Golden West College this semester and will not be returning to CMU due to poor academics.

“It was never a feeling that (CMU) wasn’t for me, it was me being irresponsible and letting my academics fall,” Dawson said. “I lost focus of the reason I was there.”

The Los Angeles native received offers from Miami (Ohio), Arizona, Villanova, Sacramento State, Montana State, Hampton, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly, Clark Atlanta, Union and Navy after graduating from Saint John Bosco high school.

Despite the various offers, Dawson said he chose CMU after visiting the campus and meeting head coach Dan Enos.

“After I de-committed from Miami, Ohio, I took my official visit to (CMU),” he said. “Coach Enos was the first coach that I visited and left with the feeling like I was going to be taken care of. His personality is what convinced me.”

Dawson plans to improve his academics this semester in the hopes of climbing back up the ladder to a Division I program.

“My goal is to transfer to another DI university to play ball,” he said. “I’m going to stay local this time. I’m undecided at the moment, but I’m probably going to narrow it down to ASU, Fresno State and UCLA.”

Coming out of high school, Dawson said he spoke with those schools but wanted to move out of California and travel somewhere new.

In his seven appearances for the Chippewas, Dawson recorded six tackles.

“We’re disappointed things did not work out here for Dorian,” Enos said. “We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”

CMU will look to seniors Joe Kinville, Chris Reeves and Nate Williams and sophomores Matt Losinecki and Leterrius Walton to take responsibility at defensive line.

“I’m still going to carry that Chip pride,” Dawson said. “I know for a fact that (CMU) will be winning the Mid-American Conference championship next season.”

Most college students would be relaxing on their couches watching television or frantically studying for an exam the next day at 10 p.m. on a Monday night.

Meanwhile, two students are preparing for their weekly hockey game.

Inside the locker room at the Isabella County Ice Arena 5165 E. Remus Road, Central Michigan University seniors Kyle Schwarz and Mike Piotrowski strap on their equipment like they have hundreds of times before.  But nowadays, the preparation carries a different feel to it.

There is no coach to give them a motivational speech, no specific game plan, and there are no screaming parents in the crowd urging them to play better.

“I love the game, I love to play, I love the competitiveness,” Schwarz said with a sharp grin.  “I look forward to every Monday, and just going out there and playing hockey.”

Schwarz and Piotrowski play for team Busch Lightning in the Adult “B” League.

Many players on the team have grown up playing with or against each other. A factor which Schwarz and Piotrowski believe plays a crucial role in the team’s success.

“We’re all good buddies,” Piotrowski said. “We know how each other plays and we have great chemistry on the ice.”

While Piotrowski went to Northville high school and Schwarz went to Livonia Churchill, they still have known each other for eight years. Off the ice, they are roommates as well.

“Me and Mike are best friends,” Schwarz said.  “We do everything together and hangout basically 24-7.”

Busch Lightning?

Coming into the league, they needed to come up with a team name— they wanted a unique name, a name that reflects a college student’s life.

Consequently, watching a hockey game spurred the idea, Busch Lightning.

“We were sitting around watching the Tampa Bay Lightning game actually drinking Busch Light and we decided to combine the two,” Schwarz said.

Occasionally, some players on the team will throw back a couple of Busch Lights before the game in honor of their team name.

Drinking before the games has developed into a popular custom among players.  Hence the term, “beer leagues.”

It’s not about money, it’s about the game

Despite many college students struggling to pay for school and other expenses, more teams continue to form in all three leagues the rink offers.

Dan Theunissen, a zamboni driver at the ice arena who also handles most of the league registration, said the A, B and C leagues have all added two more teams for the winter semester.

“It’s pretty much just picking up from where they left off,” Theunissen said. “Whether if they were playing travel or high school hockey, it’s just the next step for them.”

Not only do students enjoy it, but it also serves as an outlet to get away from their sedulous lives.

“It’s a stress reliever,” senior Mike Macha said. “It’s something to do during the week.”

Busch Lightning dominance

Schwarz and Piotrowski have played on Busch Lightning for three semesters. In that time, the team has been to the championship every semester, winning it once.

Macha has played against Busch Lightning for the past two years and recognizes its dominance.

“When you get guys that have played together for a long period of time, they form that chemistry and that chemistry helps in game situations,” Macha said.

But he believes team Main Street can challenge Busch Lightning for the championship this year.

“I know they have some good players, but our team is doing pretty well this year, so I think we will give them a good run for their money,” Macha said.

Schwarz and Piotrowski do not plan on ending their hockey playing days any time soon.

Both have played since they were 4 or 5 and said they cannot imagine what life would be like without hockey.

“It’s just in our blood,” Piotrowski said.  “Hopefully, I can play until I can’t skate anymore.  That’s my goal.”

And with the current chemistry Busch Lightning possesses, there are no plans of breaking up the team in the near future.

“You can’t put a price on bonding with the boys because that is a bond that will never be broken,” Schwarz said.