Lane’s big day fuels Chippewas to win in home opener
Senior guard Devontae Lane is known as a facilitator. As the Central Michigan point guard, his job is to distribute the ball to his playmakers.
But with CMU needing a spark early against Valparaiso, Lane took matters into his own hands. He made all four of his first half 3-pointers and scored a career-high 27 points as the Chippewas held off the Crusaders 84-79 on Saturday in McGuirk Arena.
Lane finished 5-of-6 from 3-point range, 7-of-14 from the field and 8-of-10 from the free throw line. He added five assists and four steals in his 31 minutes of action.
”My teammates believed in me, my coaches believed in me,” Lane said. “When you have that much confidence surrounding you, it makes you want to go out and play your hardest for those guys.”
Junior Malik Muhammad, a transfer from East Los Angeles College, made his Chippewa debut. He scored two points in 10 minutes, fouling out midway through the second half.
Muhammad wasn’t the only big in foul trouble, as freshman Aundre Polk also fouled out. Coming off a career-high 19 points against Western Illinois on Dec.6, Polk scored six points before fouling out.
“They’re new,” coach Keno Davis said. “They’re inexperienced to this level of basketball. You can’t minimize what having exhibition games and closed scrimmages and early games means for these guys.”
Senior guard Travon Broadway Jr. also notched a career-high in scoring, totaling 21 points, making 14-of-17 free throws. Broadway led the Chippewas with 36 minutes played.
Junior guard Meikkel Murray also scored 10 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
Valparaiso was led in scoring by Donovan Clay, who had 20. Freshman guard Connor Barrett had 14 and sophomore forward Ben Krikke added 12. Clay also logged a game-high 38 minutes for the Crusaders.
The win is the second in a row for the Chippewas coming off a trip to Florida that saw CMU lose two games in blowout fashion, including a 19-point loss to Division II opponent Flagler College.
”We were devastated coming back from Florida,” Lane said. “It was a bad trip offensively (and) defensively. When we came home, we had a team meeting, we just have to come together as a team and play team ball like we do in practice.”
The Chippewas (2-3) next take the floor at 7 p.m. on Dec. 14 at McGuirk Arena against NAIA opponent Saint Francis.
