Tennessee State Pushes Past Chippewas, 65-57
12/11/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Box Score
NASHVILLE - Central Michigan saw a 13-point first-half lead disappear quickly in a 65-57 loss at Tennessee State on Saturday afternoon.
CMU (4-4) led 24-11 with 4:47 to go in the first before the Tigers would make a 31-point swing over the next 10 minutes of play. TSU (4-6) whittled the Central lead down to two at the half, 28-26, before the Tigers rattled off a 20-0 run to start the second.
Full-court pressure by the home team forced the Chippewas to commit 19 turnovers, many coming during the first six minutes of the final frame when the Chippewas were held scoreless until Finis Craddock hit a 3-pointer with 13:55 remaining to snap what ended up being a 22-0 run by Tennessee State.
Central managed to cut the deficit down to five when Derek Jackson drained a trey with 4:26 left, but CMU would get no closer.
Trey Zeigler led the Chippewas with 17 points and six rebounds while Andre Coimbra turned in his second straight double-figure game with 14 points, five boards and three blocked shots.
Derek Jackson finished with 11 points, including three 3-pointers in the second half.
Finis Craddock chipped in six points, eight rebounds and four assists.
CMU shot 39 percent from the floor going 23-for-59 while TSU was one point better at 40 percent on 22-of-55 shooting. The big difference came at the stripe where the home team went 17-for-24 (.708) while CMU made just half of its minimal attempts going 4-for-8.
Robert Covington tallied a game-high 19 points and eight boards to lead the Tigers with Patrick Miller adding 11 points and Kellen Thornton 10.
The Chippewas close a seven-game road stretch at Minnesota on Tuesday, Dec. 13. ESPN will televise the matchup to a national audience beginning at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. CST).
NOTES:
• CMU's eight free throw attempts were a season low, as was its .500 free throw percentage.
• Finis Craddock tied his career high with eight rebounds. He also tallied eight earlier this season against UC Irvine.
• Andre Coimbra is averaging 18.0 ppg over the last two contests.
•CMU won the battle of the boards, 40-37. It marked the third time this season that the Chippewas outrebounded their opponent but the first time CMU lost while winning the board battle.
• Ernie Zeigler is now 2-1 against Ohio Valley Conference schools.
• Trey Zeigler has scored in double figures in all eight games this season.