Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 11/19/07 Section: Sports

Senior guard Eddie Spencer and the men's basketball team dropped to 0-3 to start the season after a 79-73 loss at Niagara on Friday. [Click to enlarge]

Junior guard Nate Minnoy led the men's basketball team Friday against Niagara with 21 points off the bench. [Click to enlarge]

Playing a team coming off a NCAA Tournament appearance is never easy.

But when it's the team's home opener and a banner is being raised, even more intensity is needed.

The men's basketball team found that out Friday, losing 79-73 at Niagara.

"They had great energy in dropping their 2006 (NCAA) Tournament banner, and all the hoorah and hooplah around it," said coach Ernie Zeigler. "But we talked about it, we knew it was going to happen. We still came out passive from the very opening possession offensively."

The loss puts CMU's record at 0-3 for the first time to start a season since the 2003-04 campaign, when the team lost its first three games in the Maui Invitational.

"In every season there's peaks and valleys and unfortunately for us, we're starting way down in the valley," Zeigler said. "We have to try to work our way out of this hole."

Junior forward Nate Minnoy led the Chippewas with 21 points and eight rebounds. Senior guard Giordan Watson scored 18 points and led the team with six assists.

CMU overcame a 20-4 opening deficit to pull within two with 16:39 remaining in the game, but were unable to pull ahead of the streaky Purple Eagles, which went on an 18-5 run led by sophomore guard Tyrone Lewis' 3-point shooting.

Central came back to within four with 27 seconds left. But it wasn't enough as the team didn't make a shot the rest of the game.

"We showed the fortitude and the character to battle back and put ourselves in a position to compete in a very hostile environment," Zeigler said. "That's one of the things we have to build on."

Lewis led Niagara with 26 points, while senior forward Charron Fisher, the reigning Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year, netted 22.

Lewis was 4-of-7 from 3-point range and added seven rebounds. As a team, NU shot 41 percent from beyond the arc.

"(The game) was just amazing," Lewis said in a press release. "The crowd, they are our sixth man out there. Whenever we need them, they get loud and we just take it to another level."

Meanwhile, CMU was only 5-of-20 (25 percent) from the 3-point line. Watson shot the majority, going 4-of-11 from the behind arc.

Zeigler shook up the starting lineup a bit for Friday's game. Junior forwards Chris Kellermann and senior Justin Blevins got the start in place of Minnoy and junior forward Marcus Van, who was suspended for the game for a violation of team rules, Zeigler said.

Both Kellermann and Blevins got into foul trouble, forcing Minnoy and sophomore forward Marko Spica to play the majority of the minutes. Spica added 11 points for CMU.

"When you're struggling defensively like we have been, I'm trying to find, in practices, the group that's going to give us a better defensive start," Zeigler said. "But trust me - you're going to see a different lineup come Saturday."

It doesn't get much easier for the Chippewas, who play at Minnesota this weekend. The game is set to start at 8 p.m. EST Saturday.

CMU's first home game comes at 7 p.m. Nov. 28 against the University of Illinois-Chicago.


sports@cm-life.com

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