Men's basketball wins at Bowling Green, stays atop MAC
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — The CMU men's basketball maintained its first-place position in the Mid-American Conference West Division Saturday in Bowling Green, Ohio.
The Chippewas defeated the Falcons 64-52 in front of 2,222 at Anderson Hall.
The win improves CMU's conference record to 5-2, one game ahead of Ball State (4-3) and Northern Illinois (4-3). The Chippewas also share the best conference record with Kent State and Akron.
"It was huge for us," said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler. "Whenever you can secure a road win when you're fighting to stay atop the division is really huge."
The Chippewas used a 15-1 first half run to separate from the Falcons and led 28-21 at the end of the first half.
CMU continued to extend its lead in the second half. A pair of 10-0 runs gave the Chippewas a 20-point lead (53-33) with 7:28 remaining in the game. BGSU closed the gap to 10 (58-48) with 2:31 left, but did not get any closer.
The Chippewas outshot the Falcons 40.4 percent to 38.2.
"We started well on the defensive end and that just carried up throughout the whole game," said junior forward Jalin Thomas.
Thomas led CMU with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while senior guard Jordan Bitzer had 12 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Chris Kellermann finished with 10 points.
Bowling Green was led by sophomore forward Scott Thomas, who finished with 13 points. Senior forward Erik Marchall and junior guard Joe Jakubowski each finished in double figures, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Ball State (10-9, 4-3 MAC) faces Ohio (11-9, 2-4 MAC) at 2 p.m. Sunday in Athens, Ohio. A Cardinals victory places them a half game behind the Chippewas.
Ball State is 2-0 against MAC East teams this year, the only MAC West team with a winning record in cross-over play.
CMU (10-9, 5-2 MAC) plays next against Buffalo (11-7, 4-3 MAC) at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rose Arena.
Check Monday's edition for expanded coverage from Saturday's victory.
