Central Michigan University
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Saginaw Valley State
Chippewas Win Men's Basketball Exhibition
11/9/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A lot to like, and plenty to work on.
In that sense, it served its purpose.
Braylon Rayson scored 23 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Chris Fowler had 19 points Sunday as the Central Michigan downed Division II Saginaw Valley State, 68-61, in an exhibition men's basketball game at McGuirk Arena.
"I couldn't have asked for more from a game to prepare us for the year," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "If we had played an opponent who we would have beaten by 20 or 30 and it had never been a game, we would have gotten a lot of guys a lot of experience on the court, but I don't think it would have been a true test for us.
"I give our guys credit that they made enough plays down the stretch."
It was indeed a test for the Chippewas, who open the season on Friday, Nov. 14, at home against Division III Alma.
The Cardinals, who returned four starters from a team that finished 9-17 last season, hung tough, primarily on the strength of solid three-point shooting. SVSU made six of its 12 second-half triple tries and was 11-for-27 from long range in the game.
CMU led for the vast majority of the game, but it was never able to assert control until the very end. A Rayson three-pointer with 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining put CMU up, 65-61, sparking a 6-0 game-ending run.
"Give Saginaw Valley State a lot of credit," Davis said. "I think people who looked at this game and saw a Division II team that was in a rebuilding process last year expected maybe to see a larger margin of victory, but we know the quality of the Division II programs around the country and around the state, and know the quality that they have as a team and (with) the majority of their team back."
Davis used 12 of his players who dressed for the game, nine of whom logged double digits in minutes. Most importantly, he got a look at his three young big men, freshmen Luke Meyer and DeRohn Scott, and redshirt freshman Milos Cabarkapa.
Scott made an impact with four blocks in just 12 minutes. His lone bucket was a rim-rattling dunk.
"There was a stretch for like a minute-and-a-half stretch where DeRohn blocked three shots, got a dunk and almost got a tip-dunk and got to the free throw line," Fowler said. "If everybody reaches that level every minute they're on the court, if we can reach that level, then we're going to be a good team."
Subpar free throw shooting by the Chippewas - they were 17-for-32 from the line for the game, including 6-for-17 in the second half - helped keep Saginaw Valley in the game.
"Some guys that missed free throws might not be 90-percent free throw shooters, but I don't see that that's going to be a problem," Davis said.
The development of Scott, Meyer and Cabarkapa is critical to the Chippewas' potential, Davis said. That trio was a combined 1-for-4 from the field on Sunday.
"Those guys are just stepping on to the court for the very first time and you see a ton of nerves from them, and I think it's expected," Davis said. "But I think you see the blocked shots, you see the athleticism that (Scott) brings. You're going to see that from the other guys as well. It's nice to have."
The game, Davis said, provided CMU a chance to see all of their players under game pressure, which is exactly the point of playing an exhibition game.
"There are a lot of excuses you could make that you can see why we weren't well polished, but the No. 1 thing is it's the first opportunity for us in front of fans for the year," he said. "I didn't expect to look like a great team on day one. Our goal is to keep getting better and I think we saw some real positives out there.
"In some regards it felt like an exhibition game but in other regards to have a game come down to the wire, you get to work on some things. This was a good opportunity to learn some of those things."
Caleb Davis and C.J. Turnage scored 12 points each to lead the Cardinals.
CMU outrebounded the Cardinals, 41-29. Fowler had six rebounds while Rayshwan Simmons, the Chippewas' third starting guard, added four. Combined with Rayson's nine boards, the Chippewa backcourt had 19 rebounds.
"This team is talented and we have people who can do some very good things," Fowler said. "It's just that we have to value the little things as a basketball team: the loose balls, the rebounding, the boxing out. Everything you learn in elementary school when you begin playing basketball, the fundamentals of it, we've got to value that.
"If we can start taking care of the little things, the big things will come because we're playing hard."
