Heady's heroics keep Chippewas' season alive
Central Michigan men's basketball team sit on the bench during their game against Buffalo at McGuirk Arena, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. The men defeated Buffalo 73-69. (CM-Life | Mary Nowosacki)
Needing a win to stay alive in the race to make the Mid-American Conference tournament, things were looking slim for the Central Michigan men’s basketball team, which found itself down 17 points at Ball State.
That was until the team put on an offensive clinic in the second half, scoring 47 second-half points capped off by a Jakobi Heady game-winner with eight seconds remaining. The Chippewas earned the 69-67 win.
Heady who finished the game with 18 points, entered the second half with only two of those. The biggest chunk of scoring came in the final two-minutes as he scored the last 11 points for the Chippewas to keep the team’s season alive.
CMU found itself down in a hole early as the team was down big after the Cardinals went on a 18-2 run to blow the score open to 24-7 halfway through the first half. The Chippewas would continue to try and claw back, cutting the lead to 12 but Ball State again pulled away entering the break with a commanding 39-22 lead.
A minute into the second half and it seemed like the Chippewas were going to be put away as Ball State extended its lead to 21. CMU continued clawing its way back as it trailed 52-43 with 10-minutes to play in the half.
That’s when a spark was lit for the Chippewas, as three minutes later the team was knocking on the door, down only three after an Anthony Pritchard layup. After some back and forth scoring by both squads and three minutes to play is where the Heady takeover began.
His first bucket came off his own miss as he grabbed the rebound and put it back up to make the score 63-60. After, a Ball State missed shot the Chippewas were off and running and that’s when Pritchard found Heady driving down the lane for the and-one to tie the game for the first time in the game’s entirety.
Ball State then took the lead up 65-63, Heady found the ball in his hands again to retie the game at 65. On the next trip down the court Heady yet again was given the ball, which he put through the net and gave the Chippewas their first lead since two minutes into the game with the score at 67-65.
The Cardinals then tied it up and with 30 seconds remaining, causing CMU head coach Tony Barbee to call a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Heady drove down the lane and got a tough bucket to put CMU ahead with eight seconds to play.
Ball State had a chance to tie it but a missed shot defended by Heady, giving CMU a 69-67 win.
Pritchard also finished with 18 points to help lead the CMU comeback. Another, player who added meaningful minutes is DeCorion Temple. Temple who is a tight end on the football team, was added to the roster due to injuries and had a career high 11-minutes and six points.
CMU will attempt to win-out at 7 p.m. on Friday against Northern Illinois, when the Chippewas will celebrate their seniors in McGuirk Arena.
