Allen, Harman provide offense
One game after senior forward Chris Kellermann had a career-high 28 points, sophomore guard Jeremy Allen had his own.
Allen finished with a career-high and team-high 20 points in the men's basketball team 60-57 loss Monday at Rose Arena. Allen scored 14 of his points in the second half during CMU's comeback bid after falling behind by 15.
"Coach (Ernie Zeigler) told me in the second half I needed to step it up," Allen said.
What showed maybe even more than Allen's points, however, was the leadership he showed late in the game. Both Kellermann, who was in foul trouble all game, and junior guard Robbie Harman fouled out.
Coupled with the absences of senior forward Marcus Van (suspension), junior forward Marko Spica (injury) and junior guard Jordan Bitzer (injury), Allen was the veteran on the floor down the stretch.
The rotation in the final minutes featured Allen, redshirt freshman William Eddie and three newcomers: freshman forward Lawrence Bridges, sophomore guard Antonio Weary, and junior guard Jacolby Hardiman.
"Being that I did play last year and am somewhat of a veteran on the team I felt that I put it on my shoulders and try to get us this win," Allen said.
Allen's 3-pointer with 23 seconds remaining in the game brought Central within one. But, Missouri State guard Cardell McFarland's two free throws increased the lead to three before Allen missed a 3-point opportunity with four seconds left.
With Kellermann in foul trouble early, the scoring load fell on Allen and Harman, who finished with 18 points, because of the inability to get inside pressure.
"When he got that early foul trouble it definitely stagnated us in terms of getting something inside out," Zeigler said.
Allen also was the only player on the team who shot better than 50 percent from the free throw line, something Zeigler said needs to be improved upon.
"It definitely has to improve," he said. "When you're battling and you're in one-possession games ... here we are in this early stage of the season and we've had two one-possession games here back-to-back."
Allen's previous high was 17, posted twice during his freshman season.
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