Men's basketball team beats Buffalo to stay atop MAC West
Senior guards Jordan Bitzer and Robbie Harman led the CMU men’s basketball team to its seventh consecutive home win Thursday at Rose Arena.
Bitzer scored 22 and Harman had 19 as the team defeated Buffalo 88-82 in front of 1,029, maintaining its lead in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
“I thought our seniors did a really good job leading the way,” said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler.
Harman had struggled in his past two outings. Harman, who averages 13.8 points per game, scored 16 combined points on 5-for-18 shooting against Bowling Green and Miami.
Zeigler said Harman, who celebrated his 22nd birthday Thursday, did not get down on himself during that stretch because he leads the team in so many ways.
“He knows his imprint is all over what we do,” Zeigler said. “He’s not going to be down for long and it was even probably more gratifying to watch him do it celebrating his 22nd birthday.”
Bitzer said it was nice for the team to keep up with Buffalo’s high-scoring style of play.
“Tonight, we showed we can get up and down with the best of them,” he said. The win maintains CMU’s (11-9, 6-2 MAC) half-game lead against Ball State (12-9, 6-3 MAC) in the MAC West. The Cardinals defeated Bowling Green 64-59 Thursday in Muncie, Ind.
The Chippewas are 4-0 at home against MAC opponents this season. In the first half, Buffalo got off to a quick start, going up by as many as seven. At points the Bulls tried to take away CMU’s home court advantage, by making noise and slapping the floor throughout the opening minutes.
But CMU came back. Down 26-19 with 7:32 remaining in the first half, the Chippewas went on a 18-4 run. CMU scored 11 of the 18 from free throws. Central Michigan ended the first half up 41-37.
In the second half, CMU never trailed and maintained its lead throughout, going up by as many as 13. The Bulls tightened the lead slightly near the end when CMU started taking its regular rotation out.
Junior forwards Marko Spica and Jalin Thomas also scored in double figures for CMU. Spica finished with 12 points while Thomas had 11 and eight rebounds.
The Chippewas outshot Buffalo 50 percent to 42.6.
Saturday
The Chippewas continue their three-game home stretch against MAC leading Kent State at 7 p.m. Saturday in Rose Arena.
Kent State (16-7, 7-2 MAC) is on a six-game winning streak, defeating Eastern Michigan 75-68 Thursday in Ypsilanti. It was the 400th MAC win in the school’s history.
The Golden Flashes are 4-0 against MAC West teams this season, also defeating Toledo on the road and Northern Illinois and Western Michigan at home.
Sophomore forward Justin Green (6-foot-8-inch) leads Kent State in scoring and rebounding this season, averaging 13.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
CMU concludes its three-game home stand against Akron at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Rose Arena.
