CMU men's basketball dominates Eastern Michigan for first conference win of the season
With eight seconds remaining in the first half, Central Michigan men's basketball held a three point lead over Eastern Michigan as EMU guard Christian Henry coughed up the ball at the mid court logo.
With time ticking off of the clock CMU guard Damarion Bonds found the ball and had enough time to get a contested three-point shot off before halftime. The ball left his fingertips before the clock hit zero doubling the lead to six.
This gave Central Michigan the offensive momentum it needed for dominant second half run that saw the Chippewas firmly put away the Eagles 82-63.
"Today we were better in winning-time and understanding how you expand a lead," head coach Tony Barbee said. "How do you put a game like that away? You put pressure on the rim and make them foul."
CMU jumps to 7-9 on the season and 1-3 in Mid-American Conference play. The win tonight snaps the three game skid that the Chippewas have endured since Jan. 4.
The game began with the Chippewas offense struggling to capitalize off of their suffocating defense as two back-to-back steals resulted in zero points and four missed threes.
"Put it away at the foul line, get stops and make them take tough shots without fouling," Barbee said. "After I said that they just hoisted five threes and didn't make any of them."
With 13 minutes remaining in the first half, the CMU offense found success going on a 12-0 run that stretched the next five minutes. The Chippewas began to profit off of the turnovers they created, taking a 22-14 lead with eight minutes to play before halftime.
The Eagles began clawing back finding a rhythm of their own but five straight trips to the charity stripe for Ugnius Jarusevicius kept Central Michigan ahead by three with 30 seconds in the half.
"He's (Jarusevicius) got a chance to be a dominant player in this league," Barbee said. "This team, when we play through him it makes everybody else's job easier."
The late EMU run seemed to swing momentum back in favor of the Eagles until Henry coughed up the ball with eight seconds to play in the half.
Bonds located the ball and with the few remaining seconds in the half ticking away drilled a three to make the Chippewa faithful erupt in cheer as the clock hit zero allowing the team in maroon and gold to hold a 39-33 lead going into halftime.
This momentum carried over to the second half and after an Eastern Michigan three got the half started, CMU once again went on a 12-0 run making the score 51-36 with 14:47 left to play.
Central Michigan has been dominant in the paint since starting MAC conference play and tonight was no different as the Eagles struggled to defend Jarusevicius without fouling, sending him to the free throw line for 15 shots by the games conclusion.
"We got back to throwing that ball inside to Ugi, (Jarusevicius) we got back to offensive rebounding and driving that ball to the rim which got us to the foul line," Barbee said. "That why we shot 29 free throws, because we put pressure on the rim for the most part."
In the second half the already tough CMU defense became even more relentless, only allowing 10 points in the paint for the entire half while also dominating the perimeter as EMU shot 6-24 from three on the night.
The Eagle's offense put together a 7-0 run to make the score 52-46 but that was as close as it got for Eastern Michigan for the rest of the night as the Chippewas immediately responded with an 11-0 run to make the score 63-46 with 9:50 to play in the game.
The squad from Mount Pleasant traded points with EMU for the rest of the game with the Eagles continuing to send CMU to the free throw line.
Anthony Pritchard began to heat up late in the game as he drilled a three to put an exclamation point on the 82-63 victory. Pritchard finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and three assists on 9-17 shooting from the field.
Leading the Chippewas in scoring was Jarusevicius with a career high 23 points, nine rebounds and three steals.
"I don't think there's a big that has the ability in this league to dominate a game like he does," Barbee said. "But he's got to do the things that I am asking him to do, catching the ball in the post, playing close to that rim, rebounding the ball with two hands and if he would've done that tonight he probably would've had 30 plus and 15 plus rebounds."
Jarusevicius shot 6-14 from the field with 11 of his 23 points coming at the free throw line.
"We don't have any more bigs, the other guys are hurt so I'm the only one," Jarusevicius said. "I should have had a better game to be honest because I missed a lot of wide open looks and free throws."
The CMU defense continues to dominate, holding EMU star Da'sean Nelson to 15 points, his lowest total since the start of MAC conference play.
"He (Nelson) commands respect, so we just tried to throw bodies at him," Barbee said. "Every time he caught the ball we wanted him to see 2, 3, 4 guys around him to make things hard on him. It held him under his average in MAC play and he had five turnovers."
Central Michigan men's basketball has a chance to build off of this win as it travels to Illinois to take on Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18.
