CMU men's basketball falls at Ohio
Junior guard Anthony Pritchard dribbles the ball down the court during the men's basketball game against Kent State Saturday, Jan. 13 in McGuirk Arena. Pritchard scored 11 points and made five rebounds during the game. (Ella Miller | CM Life)
Central Michigan men’s basketball snapped its three-game winning streak in a 73-61 loss to Mid-American Conference opponent Ohio.
The loss brings the Chippewas to 8-9 overall on the season and 3-2 in MAC play.
It was a slow start for CMU who only amounted to 14 points throughout the first 15 minutes of play. In that time, the Bobcats opened up a 17-point advantage.
Junior guard Anthony Pritchard knocked down a jumper at the buzzer to end the first half, giving the Chippewas some momentum heading into halftime down 40-28.
However, throughout the second half Ohio built a lead that CMU would only ever shorten to 10 points. The Chippewas had multiple chances to make a run, but both teams had multiple scoreless streaks in the half.
Anthony Pritchard who had his fifth-straight game with double-digit points led the Chippewas with 15 points. He also led the team with five assists.
Graduate guard Brian Taylor had a near double-double as he had 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds.
Also finding success on the offensive end, sophomore guard Aidan Rubio and junior forward Jemal Davis had double digit scoring off the bench.
CMU struggled in the paint all night as the team was only able to generate 20 points in the paint while the Chippewas also lost the rebound battle, 38-31.
On the defensive side, CMU was dominated in the paint, allowing the Ohio offense to score 34 points in the paint.
Ohio was led by guard Jaylin Hunter who had a game high 19 points on a solid 50% shooting. He also had eight assists and five rebounds.
Central Michigan will now look ahead to Friday as they welcome Toledo to McGuirk arena at 7 p.m. as the game will be nationally televised on CBS Sports Network.
