Central Michigan University
Bowling Green
Fowler on Fire, But Chippewas Fall
2/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Chris Fowler turned in a game for the ages.
Unfortunately, he didn't get a whole lot of scoring help from his teammates.
Fowler poured in a career-high 42 points Wednesday, but Bowling Green held off the Central Michigan men's basketball team, 76-74, in overtime in a Mid-American Conference game at McGuirk Arena.
It was CMU's first home loss and it dropped the Chippewas to 15-5, 5-4 MAC. They slipped into a second-place tie with Western Michigan in the West Division, a game behind Toledo.
The Chippewas play host to Western (14-8, 5-4) at 2 p.m. Saturday at McGuirk. Bowling Green (4-5, 6-3) is in a four-way tie atop the East.
Fowler turned in a dazzling performance, making 14 of his 23 field goal attempts and finishing 12-for-17 from the free throw line. His point total was the 12th highest for a single game in CMU history.
"I think the biggest compliment you can say about Chris Fowler is that on a night like tonight, that stat line doesn't surprise anybody," CMU coach Keno Davis. "He's done it before and we know how special he is as a player, as a person, and we know what he's capable of.
"He's capable of elevating a team and on a night when the team isn't play as well around him offensively he can take over. Credit him for giving us an opportunity to win that game."
Outside of Fowler, the Chippewas were lacking offensively. They made just six three-pointers, tying their season low, on 30 attempts and finished 27-for-66 from the field (40.9 percent). Minus Fowler's totals, the Chippewas were 13-for-43 from the floor (30.2 percent).
Fowler scored mainly on drives to the basket from the top of the key, putting on display his quickness and an array of moves, all while the Falcons continually knocked him around.
He played the final 9 minutes, 37 seconds of regulation with four fouls and finally fouled out with 7 seconds left in OT, leaving to a standing ovation from the crowd of 2,474.
The openings were there for Fowler because Bowling Green committed to stopping the Chippewas - the MAC's best three-point shooting team - from long range, giving very little breathing room to likes of John Simons and Josh Kozinski.
"It was a good battle, it was a good test," Fowler said. "The game was physical and it wasn't anything we hadn't seen before.
"I just wanted to take what the defense gave me. They weren't helping (defensively) off the shooters. After (Simons) hit a couple threes in the first half, they stopped leaving him and they rarely left (Kozinski) and they were just playing me one-on-one. I was able to make a few tonight."
Simons finished with 10 points and Kozinski added eight. Five Falcons finished in double figures with Anthony Henderson leading the way with 20. Henderson finished 8-of-12 from the field including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Fifteen of his points came after halftime.
"I think we got some good looks that just didn't go down," said Simons, who made both of his three-pointers before the game was four minutes old. "Sometimes when you're a team that takes 30 threes in a game, there are nights where you're not going to be able to knock them all down like we have been doing.
"With shots not falling, Chris was able to get to the basket and keep us in the game and we were able to get enough stops on defense to keep ourselves in the game for the most part.
"Shooters have got to shoot, and we're still going to shoot. We'll come back tomorrow and we're going to get it right."
The Chippewas trailed throughout the second half and their largest deficit was 10 points with just over 12 minutes remaining. They chipped away and eventually tied it at 60-60 on a Fowler drive with 1:30 left.
A Fowler jumper put CMU up, 62-60, with 34 seconds left, but two Richaun Holmes free throws with 12 seconds remaining sent it to overtime tied at 62-62.
A Jehvon Clarke jumper with 43 seconds left in the extra session put Bowling Green up, 74-72, and the Chippewas missed two three-point attempts over the next 33 seconds.
Zack Denny extended the lead to 76-72 with two free throws with 7 seconds left. Blake Hibbitts tipped in a shot for CMU at the buzzer for the final margin.
"I thought their physical play was a big difference," said Davis, who was clearly irked at the officiating. "We've got to improve when they're going to allow physical play. To only shoot 19 free throws in a 45-minute game like is inexcusable. Not an excuse for us losing the game, but we have to be able to be tougher when the game gets like that."
The Chippewas forced Bowling Green into 24 turnovers and held a 35-34 rebounding edge, and a silver lining could be found in the fact that on a night when they shot so poorly, they still had a good chance to win.
"There are a lot of positives," Davis said. "It was a night where we all shot poorly, and that hadn't happened this year where everybody on our team struggled from the perimeter, and yet we still found a way to give ourselves an opportunity at the end.
"I think it says a lot about our team that we can come back from deficits even on nights where maybe not everything is going our way."
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