Late run dooms men's basketball at Western Michigan
KALAMAZOO — With 2:26 to play and the game tied 77-77 between Central Michigan and Western Michigan, sophomore forward Luke Meyer committed a foul on WMU's Drake Lamont.
Lamont made the first first free throw, but missed the second. Junior Thomas Wilder was there to grab the offensive rebound and maintain WMU possession. Ten seconds later, a jumper from Anthony Avery Jr. gave the Broncos an 80-77 lead.
The three-point trip was the beginning of a 10-0 Broncos' run as they upset the Chippewas 92-85 on Saturday at University Arena.
CMU falls to 14-12 overall and 7-7 in the Mid-American Conference. The Chippewas drop to a third-place tie in the MAC West Division with Northern Illinois and Toledo and tied for sixth overall in the conference.
Ball State remains atop of the division standings.
CMU has lost seven straight regular season games in Kalamazoo, with their last win coming in 2008-09.
“I thought our guys gave incredible effort," said Head Coach Keno Davis. "I thought our guys showed their focus to not be disrupted when the game was going in that direction. We didn’t make enough big plays down the stretch, but that game could have gone either direction. I credit our guys to be able to stay focused on what we had to do.”
The Broncos outrebounded CMU 39-28. Meyer had three of the 28 rebounds.
“Being undersized in the post, it’s tough, but you just go to keep fighting," Meyer said. "You can’t let that happen.”
The Broncos shot 57 percent from the floor while CMU shot 47 percent. The Chippewas were 90 percent from the free throw line, but attempted zero free throws in the second half.
“We can’t beat anybody when we give up that many points and we get outrebounded like that," said junior guard Braylon Rayson. "Offensively, we do what we always do but we’ve got to get better defensively. We’ve got to be better at rebounding the ball.”
CMU led 44-40 at halftime and a Meyer bucket opened up the second half, but WMU responded with a 6-0 run to tie the game.
The Chippewas would tie the game at 57 and 66. The latter was scored by senior guard Chris Fowler, who tallied 22 points and moved into fifth place on the all-time scoring list at CMU. He added five assists to move into fifth all time in assists in the MAC.
After the Broncos went up 80-77, Wilder hit another jumper to extend the lead to 82-77 and Avery pulled down a rebound at the other end. The Broncos led by five with less than a minute left and eventually led 87-77.
“Every team goes on their run," Rayson said. "That’s what basketball is. They just went on a run late and we didn’t get to go on ours.”
Five Chippewas scored in double figures, including Meyer and fellow sophomore forward DaRohn Scott. Meyer poured in 13 points and Scott added a career-high 10 and pulled down a team-high six rebounds.
“I think you’re seeing glimpses throughout their career of how good they can become, and of course we want to speed that up as much as possible," Davis said. "They’re working extremely hard and as long as they continue to improve other parts of their game I think you’ll see their numbers go up.”
Meyer said WMU is one of the more physical teams in the MAC.
“There’s a lot of bruisers in the MAC, a lot big guys, a lot of strong guys," Meyer said. "Every team you go against, you’re going to get banged up a little bit, but Western does throw a lot at you. You've just got to play through it.”
Wilder was one of four Broncos who finished in double figures. The sophomore guard scored 26 points and Rayson said everything starts with Wilder.
Rayson said the team's confidence does not drop with the loss and there is no panic in the locker room.
“We’ve got to look at every game like it’s a championship game," Rayson said.
The Chippewas have four games remaining, with the season finale coming against the Broncos at 7 p.m., Friday, March 4 at McGuirk Arena.
“When you play somebody two weeks apart, you kind of see everything that you are going to get," Davis said. "If we can get some fans to come out on that Friday night, they are going to be treated to a great game.”
CMU hosts Northern Illinois at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
