CMU men's basketball drops game against Akron
Coming off an overtime win against Buffalo on Saturday, Central Michigan men’s basketball looked to start a winning streak as it took on the Akron Zips on Tuesday in McGuirk Arena.
Struggling to keep their momentum, the Chippewas fell to the Zips with a final score of 69-51.
“We're just not very good offensively,” said head coach Tony Barbee. “Can’t make one footers, can’t catch the ball cause we’re not very tough. I bet we missed 25 to 30 shots from within one feet of the rim. We've won plenty of games this year, shooting 30% from the floor. You hold the other team, 29 (shooting) and you win, we didn't have that tonight. With Boopie (Kevin Miller) out, leadership is poor. I'm not expecting leadership from Reggie, Max, and Ola, they're freshmen. You need it from our veteran players and tonight we didn't have any of that.”
CMU is now 7-11 on the season and 2-3 in the Mid-American Conference while Akron moves to 12-6 on the season and 4-1 in MAC play.
The Chippewas started off strong as they gained control of the ball after the Zips tipped the ball right to the hands of CMU senior guard Brian Taylor to open the scoring three seconds into the game. The quick basket from Taylor started the offense for the Chippewas as they went on a 7-0 run for the first two and half minutes of the game. Helping to keep Akron off the board, freshman guard Reggie Bass blocked a Zips shot to keep the score 7-0.
Akron finally broke open its scoring with a free-throw. As CMU struggled to find its footing again, the Zips went on a 5-0 run to tie the game at seven with 14:52 left in the half.
As the game reached the halfway mark, both teams were neck and neck with the lead bouncing back and forth. Following a free-throw from junior forward Enrique Freeman to take a 23-22 lead, the Zips held onto their lead throughout the first half.
The Chippewas went into the locker room down by 10 with a score of 36-26.
Keeping control of the game, the Zips defense managed to keep CMU off the board and extend their lead 47-29 as they went on a 13-3 run with 14:12 left to play.
Struggling under the basket, the Chippewas allowed the Zips to take a commanding 57-35 lead with less than 10 minutes to play.
As time was winding down, CMU found some momentum with 2:39 left as senior center Miroslav Stafl completed five free-throws in a row to make it 69-48. Keeping the momentum going, sophomore center Markus Harding followed Stafls' free throws with a three-pointer to end the game with a final score of 69-51.
Junior guard Jesse Zarzuela led the Chippewas with 20 points and four rebounds. Taylor led with seven rebounds.
“He's (Zarzuela) got the ability to score but that's never been his issue,” Barbee said. “He's learned some other things about winning that he's never done in his life and he's still working on those things. So, we need him to score but we also need him to lead.”
The Chippewas are back on the road taking on the Ohio Bobcats at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Athens, Ohio.
