Chippewa Men Face Lourdes in Final Non-Leaguer
12/30/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Game Notes: Central Michigan | Lourdes
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Before they can celebrate the new year, before they can turn their full attention to the Mid-American Conference, there is Lourdes.
The Central Michigan men's basketball team will entertain the NAIA Gray Wolves 1 p.m. Thursday in a non-league game at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas (6-6) begin defense of their MAC regular-season title next Wednesday (7 p.m.) at home against Eastern Michigan (8-4).
Lourdes, which is located in Sylvania, Ohio, plays in the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference. CMU defeated WHAC member Aquinas, 90-51, earlier this season. Aquinas topped Lourdes, 55-52, a month ago. Lordes is 2-5 in league play.
"You can't take them lightly and if you all of a sudden play differently because there's a different name on the jersey, you're not getting better as a team," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "And we've got to make sure that we don't fall into that trap that a lot of other teams do."
The Chippewas lost at William & Mary, 88-84, on Tuesday. Braylon Rayson scored 23 points and Chris Fowler added 21 to lead CMU in that game.
E.J. Blackwell, a 6-foot-4 guard, leads Lourdes in scoring at 17.0 points per game and is the fifth-leading scoring in the WHAC.
Two other Grey Wolves, Zach Steinmetz (16.2) and 6-6 forward Anthony Swanigan (13.5) average in double figures. Steinmetz averages a league-best 8.2 rebounds per game.
Rayson is leading the Chippewas in scoring at 15.9 points per game, while Fowler, who missed the first seven games of the season with an injury, is averaging 14.8.
Rayshawn Simmons and John Simons are averaging 13.8 and 11.4 per game, respectively, and Simons tops the Chippewa rebounders with 7.3 per.
The Chippewas made 12 of their 37 3-point attempts on Tuesday against the Tribe, a 32.4 percent rate. It was their lowest percentage from beyond the arc in seven games, and the first time they have been below 40 percent in five games.
