Central Michigan University
Tennessee Tech
Chippewas 2-0 After Surging Past Tennessee Tech
11/14/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Marcus Keene continued his torrid start. Braylon Rayson and David DiLeo weren't bad, either.
Keene scored 30 points, Rayson had 18, and DiLeo finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds Monday as the Central Michigan men's basketball team improved to 2-0 with an 86-74 nonconference victory over Tennessee Tech at the Golden Eagles' Eblen Center.
Rayson, a senior guard, scored 16 of his points in the second half. He scored seven straight points, six of which came on a pair of 3-pointers, to give the Chippewas the lead for good, 57-54, with just over 12 minutes remaining.
Leading by eight with under two minutes to play, DiLeo delivered the knockout blow with a triple to extend CMU's lead to 11, 83-72. Eleven seconds later, he drew a charge. Rayson then made a steal and dropped two free throws to seal it.
"You hear about playing to win and not to lose, those were winning plays," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "Stepping up and taking a charge, making a great steal."
Keene made 10 of his 19 field goal attempts and was 7-for-8 from the free throw line just three nights after he poured in 32 points in the Chippewas' season-opening win over Indiana Kokomo. He also had six rebounds and six assists.
DiLeo, a freshman from Iowa City, notched his first double-double in just his second collegiate game. He had four of the Chippewas' six steals, and made several hustle plays that helped keep CMU in front.
"It's nice to see David come up and do that," Davis said. "Just an all-around great game and to be able to step up and have that kind of performance in your first road game is pretty impressive."
Aleksa Jugovic scored 25 points and Kajon Mack had 18 to lead the Golden Eagles (0-2), who outrebounded CMU, 44-42. The Chippewas held a 22-17 edge on the boards in the second half.
"We talked about at halftime that all we had to do to win this game was win the rebounds in the second half," Davis said. "We felt that was the only thing keeping them in the game, and we did that."
Tennessee Tech, which was 14-1 at home last season, had 17 offensive rebounds on the night, but 13 of those came in the first half.
"Playing 10 guys I think it wears teams out, Davis said. "Those legs that they have in the first half, of being able to crash and get all those offensive boards ... they're really good at doing it, but I think you could see the legs go. Credit our guys for being in shape right now to be able to outlast some teams."
The Chippewas plays host to Marygrove in a non-conference game on Thursday (7 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena.
