Atop its perch: CMU men's basketball takes West Division lead with win
Central Michigan men’s basketball coach Ernie Zeigler was not watching the play with 40 seconds remaining Saturday at Rose Arena.
Rather, with his arms raised to the 2,317 people in Rose Arena, he implored the crowd to cheer their team to a first-place spot atop the Mid-American Conference West Division.
It seemed to help — during Zeigler’s plea, junior guard Amir Rashid stole the ball and secured the 81-75 win against Northern Illinois.
“I think this was a huge signature win for us,” Zeigler said.
“I’ve been here four years now and we haven’t been in this situation before where we can — this far into the season — put ourselves in first place,” he said.
Harman, who finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists, made it a two-possession game — 76-71 — when he scored on a jumper from the foul line with 40 seconds remaining.
The basket came after CMU (9-8, 4-1 MAC) got a defensive stop when junior center Will McClure blocked a shot.
“It was a four-swing,” McClure said. “Instead of them getting the two, I got the block and Robbie got the two points which put us up.”
Harman’s field goal broke a 14-point streak where the two teams scored only from the free-throw line.
McClure said despite the amount of fouls being called, CMU still wanted to play its game.
“We still want to contest all the shots and we still want to body everyone,” he said. “We just have to keep playing and hope the refs let us do what we want to do.”
The victory moved CMU’s MAC record to 4-1, tying Northern Illinois for first place in the division. But CMU has the tiebreaker because of head-to-head play.
In the first half, CMU and NIU went back and forth. But a 9-1 run with less than 10 minutes remaining in the half gave the Chippewas a nine-point lead. The Huskies responded and brought the lead back to two by half.
NIU took a brief one-point lead off a 3-pointer by junior guard Xavier Salas to begin the second half. From there, the lead changed 10 times and 46 free throws were attempted.
The win improved the Chippewas to 8-0 under Zeigler against Northern Illinois. CMU has won six consecutive games at Rose Arena, dating back to its home opener against Princeton on Nov. 14.
Close affair
NIU (8-9, 4-1 MAC) went 27-for-34 from the free-throw line, while CMU shot 24-for-36. CMU outshot the Huskies 43.6 percent to 42.3, but were outrebounded 36-35.
“We’ve been spending a lot time with some extra shooting here the last couple weeks, particularly even moreso this week,” Zeigler said.
Zeigler said he was impressed with how CMU fought through what turned out to be a physical game. Senior forward Chris Kellermann, senior guard Jordan Bitzer and junior guard Jalin Thomas all took hits during the game, while Thomas, junior forward Marko Spica and McClure played through injuries as well.
“You just see some guys that are really, really hungry to take this program to the next step,” Zeigler said.
Bitzer tied Harman for the team lead in points with 17. Kellermann finished with 12 points and Thomas had 10. Bitzer and junior guard Antonio Weary fouled out.
Salas, who came into the game averaging 19.3 points per game, led the Huskies with 26 points and seven rebounds before fouling out with 10 seconds remaining. NIU junior guard Darion Anderson had 15 and junior center Sean Kowal had 12. Anderson fouled out with 3:30 remaining.
CMU opens play against the MAC East Division at 7 p.m. Thursday at Miami (Ohio) (6-12, 3-2 MAC). CMU was winless on the road last season against the East.
The Chippewas defeated the RedHawks 57-55 last season at Rose Arena. The team’s next home game
