Final second shot propels CMU men's basketball to victory
With 13 seconds remaining in the game Central Michigan men’s basketball trailed by two when George Mason University turned the ball over on an inbound, giving CMU guard Kyler VanderJagt a chance to tie or win the game with the final possession.
VanderJagt drove to the basket but his attempt was blocked, sending the ball flying where it was recovered by Chippewa guard Damarion Bonds at the three point line with four seconds remaining.
Bonds heaved a shot from behind the line directly in the face of his defender. The bucket landed and with only one second remaining there was no time for George Mason to respond and CMU found a 70-69 victory on the back of Bond’s heroics.
Central Michigan men’s basketball advances to 2-2 on Wednesday and hands the Patriots only their sixth home loss in the last 36 games.
George Mason started the contest hot with back-to-back Woody Newton threes, allowing the Patriots to jump to a 6-0 lead in only a minute.
The Chippewas offense fought back finding their rhythm early with a Hunter Harding layup evening the score at seven with 16 minutes remaining in the first half.
The Patriots responded with a three minute, 8-0 run to take a 15-7 lead forcing Central Michigan to change the defensive scheme to slow the momentum.
The Chippewas looked revitalized following the George Mason run and began clawing back into the game, eventually leveling the score at 21 with eight minutes to play in the half.
Both teams traded points for the rest of the first half, with an Ugnius Jarusevicius three pointer and an Anthony Pritchard layup giving CMU a slight edge with a 36-33 lead at halftime.
Jakobi Heady was the star of the show for the Chippewas in the first half racking up 10 points, three steals, three assists and five rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play.
Both teams came out of halftime and continued trading points with neither squad able to pull away by more than two.
That was until back-to-back Damarion Bonds buckets stomped out the Patriots momentum and gave Central Michigan a slight 53-47 lead with ten minutes remaining in the game.
A handful of Chippewa personal fouls handed the momentum right back to GMU who converted the mistakes into points, cutting the lead to one.
Despite maintaining a lead while trading points, CMU was never able to run away with the game due to penalties, forcing the Chippewas into a dog fight as they entered the final five minutes.
Central Michigan men’s basketball committed 23 personal fouls with Bryan Ndjonga, Ugnius Jarusevicius and Anthony Pritchard, who led the team in points with 21, all fouling out before the conclusion of the game.
A Jared Billups layup through contact gave George Mason its first lead since the first half in the final two minutes of the game. Billups buried a freethrow to make the score 67-64 in favor of GMU.
Both teams traded turnovers, giving CMU guard Damarion Bonds a look at the net. The shot was blocked and rebounded by GMU’s Woody Newton with 34 seconds remaining.
The Chippewas intentionally fouled Patriots guard K.D. Johnson who missed the first shot, but drilled the second, giving the Patriots a 68-64 lead.
Central Michigan inbounded the ball to Kyler VanderJagt who swiftly knocked down a three with 20 seconds remaining to give his team a fighting chance as the score sat at 68-67 with George Mason holding a one point lead.
GMU’s K.D Johnson was intentionally fouled and once again missed the first shot before hitting the second, elevating George Mason to a two point 69-67 lead with 15 seconds remaining.
Following the free throws the ball was inbounded to VanderJagt who traveled, giving the Patriots possession of the ball with 14 seconds.
After a called timeout forced George Mason into an inbound situation, a GMU turnover gave the ball right back to the Chippewas.
That's when Bonds heaved a shot from beyond the arc that found its way into the net with one second remaining to give CMU the 70-69 win.
Bonds finished the game with 10 points and five rebounds.
CMU men’s basketball is back in McGuirk arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday where the Chippewas will take on Central State University.
