Central Michigan University
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Western Michigan
Chippewas Fall, But Earn Top Seed
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
KALAMAZOO, Mich. - A loss yes, but in the grand scheme of things, it matters not to the Central Michigan men's basketball team.
CMU fell at rival Western Michigan, 74-62, on Friday, but emerges from the regular season as the Mid-American Conference champion and the No. 1 seed heading into the league tournament.
"I'm probably in the best mood that I could possibly be in after a tough loss," said CMU coach Keno Davis, whose team was picked to finish 11th in the conference preseason poll. "It's so hard for me to be upset with this team -- even though we didn't play as hard as we could have (tonight).
"Knowing this team, maybe a loss tonight is a good thing going into Cleveland, and we understand what has gotten us there, re-focus and see if we can make Cleveland a memorable trip."
The Chippewas are 22-7 overall and finished 12-6 in the MAC, tied for the best record in the league with Buffalo and Kent State. CMU receives the double bye to the semifinals of the MAC Tournament and will open play at Quicken Loans Arena next Friday. Buffalo is seeded second.
"To have part of a conference championship is something that we're going to celebrate," Davis said. "We don't have a real good feel after this game, but when our guys get settled down I think we'll appreciate what we've accomplished and see what we can still accomplish in the next week.
"I'm just really pleased with our team, for the entire year, and that we're going to Cleveland."
Tucker Haymond scored 20 points and Austin Richie added 15 to lead the Broncos (19-12, 10-8). The Chippewas got 21 points from Chris Fowler, 19 from Braylon Rayson, and 10 from John Simons.
The Broncos jumped to the early lead and were up 17, 39-22, at halftime. CMU managed to trim its deficit to six, 44-38, with under 13 minutes remaining, and were still within single digits with under three minutes remaining, but simply couldn't close the gap.
"They took it to us, especially in that first half, and we didn't have any answers," Davis said. "I just thought we had better energy (in the second half).
"Our guys stopped worrying about the play so much and just got after it, and I think that's what you have to do. You have to play with abandon, you can't worry about what you're doing out there, you have to out-work your opponent and I thought for a stretch we did there in the second half.
"We played 20 minutes of a great game, which isn't enough in this conference."
Western held a 35-23 rebounding edge, and limited the Chippewas to four three-pointers in 21 attempts (19 percent). The four triples tied CMU's season-low.
