Chippewa men's road woes continue, fall to Akron
For the fourth straight game, CMU's men's basketball team had its leading scorer earn at least 20 points.
For the fifth time in the last six games, CMU has lost a Mid-American Conference game by at least nine points, falling to Akron 81-67 in Rhodes Arena on Thursday.
The Chippewas (6-9, 2-6 MAC) now trail the all-time series 15-36 to Akron (7-3, 5-2) including 11 straight In James A Rhodes Arena. CMU has dropped its last five contests to the Zips under Keno Davis and are 1-8 overall since Davis arrived in 2012-13.
CMU is also 2-7 this season when playing away from home.
After playing their second of four-straight MAC road games for the first time in program history, head coach Keno Davis saw a lot of bright spots in the Chippewas' loss.
“The effort isn’t lacking, and I think that’s the most important thing,” Davis said. “There are some adjustments I think we can make in the next couple of weeks. We talk about the second half of the (conference) season and be able to make a run.
“We have to get better, we have to get healthy, but I don’t see why both can’t occur and be able to be successful.”
Thursday’s loss puts CMU ninth in the MAC, ahead of Western Michigan (2-8, 1-4), Eastern Michigan (4-6, 1-5) and Northern Illinois (2-10, 1-6) with 12 conference games remaining.
Key moments
After a competitive opening 18:12, Akron scored the first half’s final seven points to take a 44-38 advantage at intermission. Shooting 14-of-28 from the floor and outrebounding the Zips 17-13 in the first half, the Chippewas hopes to earn their third win of the season away from Mount Pleasant.
The Zips, however, had plans of their own, opening the second half with a 9-3 run behind six points from Enrique Freeman to take a 53-41 lead with 16:27 to go. The Chippewas did not have an answer for the home teams fast start, shooting 9-of-25 and losing the battle of the boards 20-15 in the games final 20 minutes. Akron finished 12-of-29 from beyond the arc and 17-of-30 from inside it.
Top players
Meikkel Murray led all CMU scorers with 23 points. Travon Broadway Jr. and Devontae Lane added 17 and 12 points respectively. The starting lineup scored 58 of CMU’s 67 points.
Brain Trimble Jr. scored a game-best 25 points, finishing 7-of-14 from downtown.
Up next
The Chippewas finish their four-game road trip with visits to Buffalo on Jan. 26 and a rematch against Kent State on Jan. 30.
MAC STANDINGS:
(TEAM -- OVERALL, MAC)
Toledo -- 12-4, 7-1
Akron -- 7-3, 5-2
Bowling Green -- 10-5, 6-3
Kent State -- 7-3, 4-2
Miami -- 6-4, 3-2
Buffalo -- 6-5, 4-3
Ball State -- 6-6, 4-3
Ohio -- 7-6, 3-4
Central Michigan -- 6-9, 2-6
Western Michigan -- 2-8, 1-4
Eastern Michigan -- 4-6, 1-5
Northern Illinois -- 2-10, 1-6
