Central Michigan University
8-2
Southern Utah
6-4
Chippewa Men Rally, But Fall Short At Southern Utah
12/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
CEDAR CITY, Utah - Central Michigan nearly came all the way back from a 16-point deficit before coming up just short on Saturday in falling to Southern Utah, 86-80, in a nonconference men's basketball game at the Thunderbirds' America First Event Center.
The loss ended CMU's win streak at seven games. The Chippewas (8-2) play at Missouri-Kansas City (3-8) on Tuesday (8 p.m.).
Cecil Williams matched his season high with 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his fourth career double-double to lead the Chippewas, who pulled to within three points with under 30 seconds to play, but could not get over the hump against Southern Utah (6-4), which improved to 5-0 at home.
The 86 Southern Utah points was the most the Chippewas have allowed this season. CMU entered the game allowing 61.4 per, which was 14th in the nation.
"Really proud of our team," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "You look at this game, you're coming off of finals week, you're traveling across the country, you're playing on the road with visiting officials …
"You're going to face adversity, you're going to have travel, and calls that aren't going to go your way and you're going to have to respond. I think we did, we just probably didn't respond quick enough."
Gavin Peppers added 14 points for CMU, while Kevin McKay and Matt Beachler had nine each. Brandon Better scored 17 points to lead Southern Utah, while Ivan Madunic and James McGee added 16 apiece.
CMU trailed by 16 points, 61-45, with under 14 minutes to play, and their deficit was 10 with about 2:30 remaining. They drew to within three points twice in the final minute, the final time on a Gavin Peppers three-point play with 30 seconds left. The Thunderbirds made three free throws in the final 27 seconds to seal it.
The Chippewas finished with a 41-28 rebounding advantage, and 19 of their rebounds came on the offensive end. David DiLeo had seven rebounds, while McKay had six along with five assists.
"Although Southern Utah's not a great rebounding team, to be able to outrebound somebody by 13 … in one effort category that was definitely a bright spot for us coming out of it," Davis said.
It was CMU's first loss since it fell, 72-65, at Michigan more than a month ago.
"It stings to lose," Davis said. "Now you take this loss and you hope to use it as a positive. Sometimes when you lose you're able to focus on (improving) more if you've got great character, and one thing we're not short on is character.
"The nice thing about college basketball is you don't have to wait a week until you play again, you get another game in a couple days. Part of the reason we scheduled these two road games was to get us ready for the conference. You never like to lose to get better, but hopefully that's what happened today."
