Rapid Reaction: Central Michigan 76, Toledo 74
The Central Michigan men's basketball team is by itself in second place in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
After falling to Western Michigan a week ago in Kalamazoo, the Chippewas traveled to Toledo a week later and defeated the Rockets 76-74. CMU improves to 16-13 (9-7 MAC)
CMU has now won five consecutive meetings with Toledo (17-12, 8-8 MAC)
The Chippewas now trail one game to first-place Ball State (19-10, 10-6 MAC) in the MAC West Division with two games remaining in the MAC West Division.
The finish
With 2:48 left and the Chippewas holding on to a 69-67 lead, Toledo's Stuckey Mosley fouled senior guard Chris Fowler, putting CMU in the bonus.
Fowler made both free throws to extend the Chippewas' lead to 71-67. After Toledo's Nathan Boothe made two free throws the other way, Fowler drove to the lane on the other end and slid past Boothe to once again put CMU up by four, 73-69, with less than two minutes to go.
The Rockets cut the deficit to one after Boothe nailed a three to cut the lead to one, 73-72, with 54 seconds to play.
On the next CMU possession, Fowler dished to senior guard Rayshawn Simmons. He missed but sophomore forward DaRohn Scott scored the putback to extend the lead to three, 75-72.
Boothe airballed a three with 15 seconds left. Fowler missed a one-and-one on the other end when the Rockets' Jonathan Williams was fouled at the other end. He made two free throws to cut the lead to 75-74 with 7.3 seconds left.
Simmons made 1-of-2 free throws to make it a two-point game. The Rockets' Sanford missed a three as time expired to seal the CMU win.
Simons' monster game
Playing in his final game at Savage Arena, Simons left his mark on the court with an offensive outburst.
Simons had three 3-pointers in the second half, the latter to tie the game 46-46. He hit an offensive putback to put CMU up 48-46.
He had eight points on 1-of-2 shooting from 3-point range in the first half. He finished the game with 19 points and nine rebounds.
Meyer's big first half
With his Toledo-alumni parents in the stands, sophomore forward Luke Meyer represented the Chippewas in the first half.
He scored the first five points of the game, including hitting a 3-pointer. He led the Chippewas with 10 points and four rebounds after the first 20 minutes.
Defensively, Meyer guarded Toledo standout Nathan Boothe and held him to eight points on 4-of-11 shooting in the first half.
Overall, Meyer finished with 12 points and six rebounds after scoring five points on 1-of-9 shooting in the first meeting.
Mosley steals the spotlight
Boothe came into the game leading the MAC in scoring (19.1 points per game) and third in rebounding (nine rebounds per game). However, it was Mosley who powered the Rockets.
After CMU started the second half with a 6-0 run, Mosley capped a 7-0 response by the Rockets with a three-point play to cut the deficit to one, 40-39.
With the Rockets down 50-48, Mosley hit a three to put them up one heading into the media timeout with 11:33 left.
As the Chippewas held a five-point lead with 5:00 to play, Mosley hit another three to cut CMU's lead to two.
What's next
The Chippewas begin their final week of conference play with a trip to Ball State (19-10, 10-6 MAC) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
CMU lost to the Cardinals 75-63 on Feb. 13 and fell out of first place in the MAC West Division. BSU is led by Franko House with 11.8 points per game while Bo Calhoun adds 11.3. The duo combined for 37 points against CMU in the first meeting.
Stay with Central Michigan Life for more on today's game.
