Reading the 'D'
Ashley Williamson
The new were junior transfer Whitney Robinson, redshirt freshmen Tony Bowne and Tom Pantlind, and true frosh Herb Goliday.
“It was a lot of fun, I sat out all of last year, so I had a lot of butterflies in my stomach. It was a lot of fun to get out their and play,” Robinson said.
Robinson led the team in scoring with 17 points. He also grabbed four rebounds and dished out five assists.
“I have never not seen him all over the floor. He is always going to play like that. He gets everyone going defensively,” Webber said.
Pantlind scored two points in nine minutes, while Goliday scored four points, and pulled down one board.
As for the old faces, Webber, passed up shots and led by example.
“When I lead the team usually follows. For our team to be a good one, we have to be unselfish because we have so many good weapons,” Webber said. “I made an effort tonight to lead by example; to make the extra pass so that my teammates will do the same because when we play the Kent State’s, and the Ball State’s they are going to deny me the basketball. So my teammates are going to have to turn their open shots so that I get the ball.”
Smith said that Webber passed up shots to prove a point.
“Obviously there is not too many exhibition games across the country where your best player is going to turn down a multitude of opportunities to put it up,” said CMU Head Coach Jay Smith. “I think from that you can see a little bit of the maturity of David. I don’t think that would have happened his freshmen, sophomore years and I am not sure that it would have happened last year. I think that is the sign of a good player.”
Webber finished with five points, and a team high seven assists.
CMU took a 5-2 lead on a J.R. Wallace three-pointer and never looked back. The Chippewas had up to a 14-point lead before GT Express cut the lead to six going into halftime.
Central came out and jumped out to a 13-point lead in the second half and held off a late threat by GT for the win.
“At the end their I wanted to get the young group in there. It was good there was a maturity thing with T.J. stepping up on the line at the end, hopefully that will help us down the line. Then, I left them in there, and let the bend, to see if they would grow up a little bit,” Smith said.
The Chippewas played sloppy committing 26 turnovers and 23 personal fouls.
“We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball,” Smith said.
Mike Manciel played 24 minutes, scoring 16 points, and grabbing five rebounds. Kaman pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, and three steals. He also added 14 points.
“I (made the extra pass) got it going a little bit. Whitney got it going defensively a little bit. Kaman got it going with his rebounding,” Webber said.
