CMU men's basketball rolls in win over Miami (Ohio)
After, Miami (Ohio) cut Central Michigan men’s basketball's lead to nine with three minutes to play it looked like the RedHawks may be coming back.
Things changed quickly when Anthony Pritchard found junior forward Markus Harding cutting to the basket where he dunked on a defender while drawing the foul.
“But when coach called that six, and AP (Anthony Pritchard) snakes the screen that came to the right, I saw them all come to his side. So, when I ran... I just saw the rim was calling my name,” Harding said.
The shift in momentum helped Central Michigan seal the game 71-55, giving the Chippewas its fifth win in six games. The win brought them to 10-9 on the season, it's first time above .500.
CMU got out to a quick start, leading 20-9 after the first 10 minutes. Eventually ending the half outscoring Miami 17-11, heading into the break with a 38-20 lead. The 18 point advantage was the largest halftime lead the Chippewas have had this season.
Central Michigan continued to dominate throughout the rest of the game, building its largest lead to 20 with 12 minutes to play. Miami would fight back but CMU wouldn’t fold, eventually pulling out the win.
The and-one wasn’t the only tough thing Harding did in the game. He also had to cover 6-foot-8, 300-pound, senior forward Anderson Mirambeaux.
Mirambeaux who is the leading scorer for Miami had a team high 16 points, but the Chippewa defense was able to limit him to under 50% shooting.
“Marcus did a great job on him but so did Hunter (Harding) and so did KJ (Oduor) but even more importantly, our team did,” head coach Tony Barbee said. “He has to see a crowd when he has the ball. He's got great hands, great feet... He's hard to handle in there when you got that kind of feet and soft touch.”
Defense was the key to CMU's victory as the Chippewas held the best three-point shooting team in the Mid-American Conference to 26% (5-19). Fifty-five points is also a season low for the Miami squad.
Central Michigan had an average day on offense, shooting 42% as a team but an abysmal 17% from three-point range.
One Chippewa had a stellar performance and that was Pritchard, securing a game high 18 points, while also having eight assists and seven rebounds.
“Yeah, he's (Anthony Pritchard) a dog,” Harding said. “There are some things that other people do but they're not doing everything that AP does. He is ready to play defense full court. He's ready to be active in the lanes. Then on offense he's looking around finding who the best man is open, making everybody attract to him that's a huge thing.”
Graduate guard Brian Taylor also added solid scoring with 14 points on an effective 55% shooting from the field. He also had two emphatic dunks with one being an alley-oop.
Another area that CMU dominated was in the paint. The Chippewas outrebounded Miami 42-30, as well as 10-4 in offensive rebounds.
Alongside rebounds CMU dominated the points in the paint as it had 42 points compared to only 28 points from Miami.
The Chippewas look to continue their success on the road as they travel to Kalamazoo to face off against MAC-rival Western Michigan on Saturday at 1 p.m.
