Men’s basketball comeback falls short in loss to Akron
Following a game during which the Chippewas made 22-of-28 shots in the first half against Miami (Ohio), Central Michigan University's men's basketball team started Saturday’s game at Akron 1-of-11 shooting and dug itself a 15-point halftime hole.
A late 14-2 Chippewa run brought Chippewas within one point in the final minute, but a quick Akron 3-pointer put the game away. The Zips (12-5, 3-1 MAC) would hold on to win 82-76.
“(In) the first half we couldn’t make anything,” said Head Coach Keno Davis. “To give ourselves a chance on the road after a first half offensively like that I think is a good sign of things to come.”
Junior guard Chris Fowler scored 26 points, tied for his season-high. Fowler said the Chippewas (12-3, 2-2 MAC) had trouble diagnosing Akron’s game plan defensively up until halftime.
“It was fun in the last few minutes,” Fowler said. “We got to playing really hard, digging in on defense and offensively trying to get to the basket and continue to make shots.”
Fowler and junior forward John Simons, who finished with 11 points, combined for nine points during the 14-2 run. Fowler also assisted on redshirt freshman Josh Kozinski’s 3-pointer to cut it to five.
“I trust Chris that he’s going to make the right choice every single time,” Simons said. “In a late situation like that, to have a guy like him can drive and score on anybody. I think he had a lot to do with that 14-2 run.”
After making 6-of-7 3-point attempts Wednesday, Kozinski hit only one on Saturday.
“(Fowler) just about willed us to an unbelievable win,” Davis said. “He’s doing everything that he can. It says he played 38 minutes, I don’t remember the two minutes he was out.”
Fowler surpassed 1,000 career points during CMU's win. The Southfield-native is just the 29th Chippewa to ever score 1,000 or more points.
“We’re going to remember Chris Fowler as somebody that not only gave everything, worked extremely hard, but really helped us bridge this gap to being a successful program,” Davis said. “Not just for a year, but for years to come.”
CMU scored 52 points in the second half following a season-low 24-point first half.
CMU forward Luke Meyer scored three points and grabbed three rebounds in 27 minutes while forward DaRohn Scott and center Milos Cabarkapa had zero points and zero rebounds. The three combined for a total of seven fouls.
CMU allowed 16 offensive rebounds and lost the rebounding battle 43-32.
“I’m not going to blame our freshmen,” Davis said. “I’m the last person that would ever blame anybody let alone freshmen, but you see our inexperience inside. We needed another guy in there, another physical presence to be able to rebound.”
The Chippewas return to McGuirk Arena to face Buffalo University (12-4, 3-1 MAC) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
