Central Michigan University Athletics
Chippewas Tough Out 71-68 Home Win
1/27/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
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MOUNT PLEASANT -- Coach Ernie Zeigler’s tough mentality is starting to take hold with his players.
On Saturday night, the Chippewas “toughed out” a 71-68 victory over visiting Bowling Green, thanks in large part to stifling second-half defense and the ability to take care of the ball.
After allowing the Falcons to shoot 52 percent from the floor in the first half, CMU clamped down and held BGSU to a 36 percent mark in the second. The Chippewas also forced Bowling Green to turn the ball over 24 times in the game.
CMU (8-11, 3-5 Mid-American) committed a season-low 11 turnovers, including just two in the second half, while coming back from a nine-point deficit.
“I want to congratulate our players,” Zeigler said. “The players definitely stepped up tonight. It was a collective effort and I’m so proud of the fact that we were able to hold them to 36 percent shooting in the second half.
“We’ve had some adversity this season. We had a poor showing and were dominated on Wednesday by Miami. The last two days in practice we had to do some soul searching. Our guys responded. Now we have to continue to focus on getting better each and every day.”
The Falcons (10-10, 1-6 Mid-American) led the entire first half and went on an 8-1 run to close the opening frame. BGSU’s 35-26 lead at the half would end up being its largest of the game.
A Jordan Bitzer three-pointer with 17:32 left sparked a mini 7-0 Chippewa run that got CMU back into the game and Robbie Harman gave the Maroon and Gold its first lead on a layup that made it 42-41 with 14:59 remaining.
Bowling Green quickly took the advantage back and used an 8-0 spurt to take a seven-point lead, 60-53, with 5:36 on the clock.
But, that’s when CMU started to lock down. A Harman steal set up an Eddie Spencer three-pointer with just over three and a half minutes left and another steal by Marko Spica a couple minutes later created a Giordan Watson trey that tied the game for the last time at 64.
Watson then took control of the game after that. He hit a jumper to give CMU a one-point lead and recorded a steal on the next possession and was fouled. He hit a pair from the line and CMU’s defense again recorded a steal, this time by Jordan Bitzer, and Watson wound up going to the line once more where he hit one of two from the stripe to make it a four-point lead, 69-65.
Splitting a pair ended up being the theme of the final 30 seconds as BGSU’s Nate Miller and CMU’s Spica and Spencer all did.
Following Spica’s split, the Falcons got a second chance opportunity on their possession and were able to cut it back to two on a layup by Erik Marschall. Following a BGSU timeout, Spencer was fouled on the inbounds and he missed the first free throw with two seconds left so the Falcons called a timeout. He hit the second to make it a three-point game and Martin Samarco quickly got the ball past halfcourt but his flick shot at the buzzer was off as CMU held on for the win.
Watson finished with a game-high 27 points, including a career-high 12 free throws on 16 attempts. He also had a career-high six steals.
Spencer added 15 points and six rebounds, both one shy of his season highs.
Samarco and Miller each had 18 points to lead BGSU while Marschall had 11 points and eight boards.
Bowling Green finished with a .444 field goal percentage while CMU shot .370. The Falcons won the battle of the boards, 42-31, but CMU had more on the offensive glass (16 to 14).
CMU now heads to Kent State on Wednesday for a meeting with the Golden Flashes.
NOTES:
There were a total of 57 fouls called in the game and 74 free throws attempted.
The Chippewas committed a season-low 11 turnovers while Bowling Green committed a season-high 24. BGSU entered the game ranked second in the MAC in assist/turnover ratio at 1.04 while CMU was last at 0.55.
Giordan Watson moved up to 21st on CMU’s career scoring list with 1,030 points.
The Chippewas entered the game ranked tops in the MAC and 35th nationally in free throw shooting (.733) but CMU shot a season-low .581 from the stripe while attempting a season-high 43 freebies. CMU has shot below 70 percent from the line in each of the last three games.
Sefton Barrett did not dress for the game. He was serving a suspension for a violation of team rules.
The win was CMU’s first conference win of the season in Rose Arena and the first overall win at home since the Dec. 17 double-overtime victory over Cleveland State.
CMU’s eight wins this season doubles last year’s total. CMU was 4-24 overall and 1-17 in the MAC in 2005-06.
