Travon Broadway Jr. shines, Chippewa men snap three-game losing skid
Travon Broadway Jr. tied a career-best 21 points when CMU and Eastern Michigan last battled in men's basketball.
Broadway, a senior guard, set another career-high against the Eagles -- this time a 25-point performance -- which helped the Chippewas earn a 75-64 Mid-American Conference win Saturday in McGuirk Arena.
The Miami, Florida native added five rebounds and tied a career-best five steals to help CMU (6-7, 2-4 MAC) snap a three-game losing streak and sweep the season series over EMU (4-5, 1-4 MAC) for the second time in three seasons.
“To get our feet wet again in the win column is big,” Broadway said. “We had good practices leading up (to the game), now it’s time to build on this win and keep going.”
With head coach Keno Davis ruled out of Saturday’s game as a precautionary measure after feeling unwell Saturday morning, assistant coach Chris Davis served as head coach for Saturday’s game.
Serving as head coach for Saturday’s game, Davis reminded the team to do three things: to compete, have intensity and to talk.
“We talk about it all the time and we ask them to do it for 40 minutes, and we think they did that tonight,” Davis said. “At halftime we told them ‘hey, there’s only 20 minutes left, and you have to play harder in the second half than in the first’ and they stepped up to the challenge.”
After a back-and-forth opening 10 minutes, the Eagles opened a 25-18 lead with just over seven minutes remaining. A 3-pointer from junior guard Matt Beachler ignited a 15-0 CMU run to help give the home team a 35-29 advantage entering intermission.
Junior forward Meikkel Murray scored seven straight points to open the second half, leading the charge for a 10-0 Chippewa run to open the game’s final 20 minutes.
The Eagles would pull within 11 points with 6:24 remaining, but baskets from senior guard Devontae Lane, Broadway, and junior forward Malik Muhammad secured the Chippewas’ second MAC victory of the 2020-21 campaign.
Murray totaled 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Yeikson Montero led the Eagles with 19 points and a game-best 14 rebounds.
Saturday’s game was the first to allow parents and family members of CMU athletes to attend. While not all families were able to attend Saturday’s game, the voices of those in attendance were heard.
“Our guys were so excited when they heard their families could come (to games again),” Chris Davis said. “You walk out (of the tunnel) and you hear people clapping, you hear people cheering, and when they did player introductions the fans we had were screaming.
“It meant a lot to (the team), and they were excited to play for them.”
CMU opens a stretch of four-straight road games beginning against Toledo at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Savage Arena.
