Men's basketball dominates McNeese State
In the first-ever matchup between the Central Michigan University and McNeese State University men's basketball teams, the Cowboys could not handle the Chippewas’ depth, as CMU dominated on the road 87-58.
“Talking with (McNeese) head coach after the game, (he was) just shaking his head,” said CMU Head Coach Keno Davis. “They didn’t have any answer. I said, ‘a lot of teams don’t have an answer for how to guard us.”
The win puts the Chippewas at 9-1, their best record to start a season since they began 10-1 in 1974-1975.
The Chippewas trailed McNeese 21-14 with 10:52 remaining in the first half, but CMU finished the half on a 29-6 run.
“I was a little bit worried in the first seven or eight minutes,” Davis said. “Give our guys credit, even when we’ve had stretches this year where we don’t look like we’re executing, our guys have been able to come out of timeouts. We actually took the pressure off and got better in our half court defense.”
Seven Chippewas had eight or more points.
The Chippewas were led by junior forward John Simons who scored 13 points. Simons scored the first eight points of the second half for either team, extending CMU’s lead to 51-27.
Freshman forward DaRohn Scott played 17 minutes in the win. Davis said Scott’s physicality was needed against a tough McNeese frontcourt.
“DaRohn, if nothing else, he is a physical specimen out there,” Davis said. “He used not only strength but athleticism to combat their physical play and I thought it sent an early message that we weren’t just going to be pushed and shoved around.”
McNeese State came into the game ranked 11th in the country with 6.3 blocks per game. They blocked four CMU shots on Monday.
The Cowboys leading shot-blocker, forward Austin Lewis, came into the game second in the country with 3.75 blocks per game. The junior played just two minutes as he nursed an injury.
“We didn’t change our game plan whether he was in the game or out,” Davis said. “Our game plan offensively was to attack the basket and if they’re secondary defenders came—being a top 10 shot blocking team—we were either going to have to draw fouls or kick out to our perimeter shooters. I thought we did both well.”
Even though sophomore Braylon Rayson was held to two points and 1-for-8 from the floor, the 5-foot-9 guard led the team with eight rebounds.
“It shows his desire,” Davis said. “(That’s) how hard he plays.”
CMU has a 10-day break until its next game, which will be at home at 7 p.m. on Jan. 3 against Central Penn. It will be CMU’s final non-conference game of the year.
