CMU men's basketball advances 10-11 over BGSU
Central Michigan senior guard Anthony Pritchard goes for a layup against Bowling Green sophomore forward Wilguens Jr. Exacte at McGuirk Arena, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. Pritchard had 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds. (CM-Life | Mark Hoover)
With only 13 minutes left to play in the game a layup from Bowling Green guard Braelon Green cut Central Michigan men's basketball's led to six after erasing CMU's 16-point halftime lead.
That was until guard Kyler VanderJagt drilled a deep three in the face of his defender to end the Falcon's 8-0 run, breathing life back into the Chippewa's offense as it went on to win 90-71.
Central Michigan advances to 10-11 on the season and 4-5 in Mid-American Conference play.
"A lot of that lapse that allowed them to go on a run was a little bit of our malfunction," head coach Tony Barbee said. "But we got back to our game plan attacking the paint off the drive, off the post and when we did that, we got easy baskets."
The game got off to a quick start with both offenses humming as the game settled into a 12-12 draw through the first six minutes.
A dunk from forward Bryan Ndjonga was the catalyst for a two-minute 8-0 run that gave the Chippewas a comfortable 20-12 lead with 11:28 left to play in the first half.
BGSU refused to let up and clawed its way back into the game with seven minutes remaining before halftime as a mid-range bucket from Jamari Felt cut CMU's lead to three with the score sitting at 29-26.
The Falcons seemed poised to make the contest close going into halftime, until the squad from Mount Pleasant regained its rhythm on offense, closing the half with a 20-7 run that gave the Chippewas a 49-33 lead.
"We need everyone to contribute, we do not look at it like we have five starters," Barbee said. "We have eight, nine, ten starters."
Coming out of halftime the Central Michigan offense struggled to find consistent shots, gifting BGSU a 5-0 run to start the second half.
"We want to take threes, but you do not come out of halftime with a 16-point lead and just start launching threes," Barbee said. "That is what we did, they did not go in and now you are allowing those missed threes to be the first path to their transition and then they get on a run."
The squad from Mount Pleasant quickly found its footing, trading buckets with Bowling Green until a three from DaJion Humphrey helped the Falcons begin an 8-0 scoring run, cutting the Chippewas lead to six with only 13 minutes left to play.
Facing a three-minute scoring drought the Chippewas needed to find a way to slow BGSU's momentum, and with 12:06 remaining in the game VanderJagt found his chance as he knocked down a three, sending McGuirk Arena into a frenzy.
The second half was dominated by VanderJagt who let the ball fly from beyond the arc, going 6-7 from three as CMU pulled away leading 71-55 with only eight minutes remaining.
"My teammates did a great job getting me open," VanderJagt said "They were just falling today."
Central Michigan refused to take its foot off the gas as it continued to show off its dominant offense, closing the game with a 90-71 final score.
Leading the offensive attack for the Chippewas was VanderJagt, finishing with a career-high 25 points on 8-10 shooting from the field.
"I think I can bring the ability to take a little bit of stress off of Pritch (Pritchard)," VanderJagt said.
Forward Ugnis Jarusevicius made his return after missing four straight games, finishing with 21 points, 12 rebounds and four assists.
"With Ugi (Jarusevicius) specifically when he is on the floor, he is hard for our opponents to deal with, he draws a lot of attention," Barbee said. "It makes the game easy on everyone else when we take advantage of him in the paint."
Guard Shaedon Simpson notably made his first start as a Chippewa, filling in for Jakobi Heady who was battling illness.
CMU men's basketball has a chance to build off of its momentum as it prepares to host Miami (Ohio) at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4.
