CMU men's basketball wins second straight overtime thriller
Graduate student guard Brian Taylor, left, junior guard Anthony Pritchard, middle, and sophomore guard Paul McMillan IV, right, celebrate a basket made by Taylor in the second half of the men's basketball game against Kent State Saturday, Jan. 13 in McGuirk Arena. Taylor scored 17 points and made eight rebounds for the Chippewas. (Ella Miller | CM Life)
Down by one and less than 20 seconds to play in double overtime Central Michigan men’s basketball had one last chance to take the lead over Bowling Green.
CMU chose to go to sophomore guard Paul McMillan IV and with 11 seconds to play he made a tough basket, giving the Chippewas a 77-76 lead. BGSU had one more shot to win the game but missed its last attempt as time expired.
The win is the fifth straight for CMU and brings the team to 13-9 overall and 8-2 in Mid-American Conference play.
“You get me off of this radio very quick. I don't want to get arrested while we're still in Ohio for armed robbery,” head coach Tony Barbee said after stealing the win.
One of the main reasons Barbee referred to the win as a robbery is because CMU was missing two of its starters with junior guard Anthony Pritchard and junior forward Markus Harding missing the game due to injuries.
Pritchard leads the Chippewas in scoring (14.6 per game), assists (4.7 per game), and steals (1.8 per game) while Harding is also third on the team in scoring with 10.6 points per game.
“It’s a shame that (Pritchard) got dinged up a little bit, and it’s gonna be day-to-day and game-to-game and the same thing with Markus moving forward,” Barbee said.
With Pritchard out, one Chippewa has stepped up with that being McMillan IV. After, leading CMU in scoring on Tuesday, he did the same against BGSU with 19 points and six rebounds in 46 minutes of play.
“It was just time for me to step up,” McMillan IV said. “My coaches and teammates all trust me, they see me do it in practice, so I just really wanted to come in and get the win for us and keep the win streak rolling.”
The other Chippewa to step up was sophomore center KJ Oduor who had a season high 38 minutes in place of Markus Harding. He also had a game high four blocks.
CMU continued to do what it does best and that is defend the basket. BGSU averages 77 points a game this season and was held to 62 points by the end of regulation as it took two overtimes to come close to its season average.
Defense also played a big part in the closing minutes of regulation as the Chippewas didn’t allow BGSU to score in the last three minutes while CMU was down three. The Chippewas were then able to tie it and send the game into overtime.
Though the Chippewas only forced the Falcons into three turnovers, CMU held them to 32% (24-73) from the field and 21% (7-33) from three-point range.
The Chippewas will stay on the road as they take on Akron on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
