CMU mens basketball outscored by Ohio
Struggling to find its footing, Central Michigan men's basketball was outscored by Ohio 96-68 on Saturday.
CMU is now 7-12 on the season and 2-4 in the Mid-American Conference while Ohio moves to 10-9 overall and 2-4 in MAC play.
“Disappointing game and just the fact that we can't seem to catch a break,” said head coach Tony Barbee. “With the injury bug, the flu, COVID bug, and every other bug that is catching us so it's hard to be consistent game to game when you don't have consistent lineups, especially with the youth that we have on the floor. So, you know, when guys are out for various reasons other guys have to step up, and right now, we’re not taking advantage of those opportunities.”
The Chippewas are still without sophomore guard Kevin Miller and freshman guard Emil Skytta. Junior guard Jesse Zarzuela was out for undisclosed reasons, leaving CMU with seven players.
Falling behind early, the Chippewas were down 6-0 as the Bobcats quickly took control of the game three minutes in. CMU finally opened its scoring with a layup from sophomore center Markus Harding.
Finding a small spark, a turnaround jump shot from senior guard Brain Taylor followed by a driving layup from freshman forward Reggie Bass cut the Bobcats lead to seven with a score of 15-8 with 13:28 left in the half.
Taylor led the Chippewas with 27 points and 11 rebounds recording his third double-double of the season.
“His ability to rebound and defend and do things that a veteran player is asked to do on a consistent basis has to be there for Brian,” Barbee said.
It didn’t take long for the Bobcats to answer back with a three-point jump shot from senior guard Miles Brown to give Ohio its biggest lead of the game at 10 with a score of 18-8.
Struggling to find an offensive run, the Chippewas began to fall behind even further while the Bobcats took advantage of CMU’s 16 turnovers. Ohio was able to extend their lead to 52-31 going into the locker room.
The Bobcats took a commanding 20-point lead with a score of 67-47 with less than 10 minutes left to play in the game.
With time winding down, the Chippewas found another spark scoring four free throws in a row to cut the lead to 23 with 1:47 left to play. Due to the large first half deficit, CMU couldn't keep up with Ohio as the Bobcats secured the 96-68 win.
The Chippewas are back home taking on the Bowling Green Falcons at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at McGuirk Arena.
