Lane started the Mid-American Conference opener for the Chippewas after being held out of their previous game on Dec. 28 at Purdue with an undisclosed injury.

Lane's coach, Keno Davis, said after the loss to the Boilermakers the junior guard had an injury flare up minutes before the game started. Davis wanted to ensure Lane would be ready to roll for the conference season.

Against Miami, Lane was ready.

In the game's first 20 minutes, Lane was 3-for-3 shooting from beyond the arc. He also connected twice more from the floor to lead the Chippewas at halftime with 13 points.

In the locker room, Lane was the only scorer in double figures for CMU as it led, 43-38, over the RedHawks.

While the second half was a different story, Lane's performance in the first half helped lead the Chippewas to the conference-opening victory.

Coming in, Lane transferred from Indian Hills Community College, the same college senior forward Rob Montgomery transferred from before the start of the 2018-19 season.

Montgomery said Lane is helpful on the offensive end to get everyone set up and look for the best opportunity to attack.

"He's a key piece of our team," Montgomery said. "He's our starting point guard so whenever we have the chance to have him out on the floor, it helps us in every aspect, on offense and defense."

Having never played at the Division I level before making the jump this year, Lane had a lot of learning to do and still does, according to Davis.

Davis said the team was spoiled last season with the duo of Larry Austin Jr. and Shawn Roundtree Jr., both transfers coming in having played at the Division I level.

Much of what Lane and other JUCO transfers need to learn is the quickness of the defenses at the Division I level. Davis also said learning how hard to play is another key piece to finding success.

"I think he's going to continue to improve," Davis said. "As long as we stay healthy, I think you're going to see great individual improvement, especially from the guys that are new and kind of doing this for the first time."

In the end, the Chippewas had six different scorers in double figures, with Lane's 14 and 11 from Montgomery, junior guard Travon Broadway Jr. scored 11 while seniors David DiLeo and Kevin McKay scored 16 and 14, respectively.

Senior guard Dallas Morgan took the game over in the second half after scoring just four in the first half.

Morgan finished the game with 23 points and made five triples in the process. Many of those long-range shots helped control the momentum and push Central Michigan's lead to as many as 15 with five minutes left in the second half.

In the first half, Morgan shot 2-of-7 from the field and was 0-for-2 from 3-point range. In the second half, however, Morgan did not miss any of his seven shots, including five triples.

Morgan's turnaround in the second half stemmed from the mindset he utilizes to find success.

"Just staying confident," Morgan said. "I came out in the first half and missed a couple shots. My teammates kept telling me to keep shooting the ball. I just wanted to come out and do what I do and shoot the ball."

Coming out of the nonconference slate and a four-game losing streak, Davis said he was not concerned about his team not being ready to play as it had a week off from the game at Purdue.

Through that losing streak at Valparaiso, Texas, Robert Morris and Purdue, Davis said he likes to schedule for his student-athletes to test themselves against guys that could play professionally. But it does come at a small cost to the team.

"I don't like to lose," Davis said. "I don't look a lot into the 'we got better' because we got smacked at Purdue. I know (the players) enjoy that opportunity. They were frustrated that they didn't play better or execute in those situations.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to look back on our conference season and say, 'That really helped us.'

Devontae Lane returns from injury, spurs Central Michigan to conference-opening win

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