Central Michigan University
13-8, 2-6MAC
Kent State
11-10, 5-3MAC
Chippewas Hang Tough In Loss To Kent State
1/27/2018 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A tale of two halves, and a tale that, overall, is becoming painfully familiar to the Central Michigan men's basketball team.
Kent State outscored the Chippewas, 52-35, in the second half on Saturday in handing CMU an 84-76 Mid-American Conference loss before 2,967 at McGuirk Arena.
The loss dropped CMU to 13-8, 2-6 MAC. Kent State is 11-10, 5-3.
"I was really pleased with our effort, especially in the first half," said CMU coach Keno Davis, whose team led, 41-32, at the break. "Great crowd out there, felt like we were a couple possessions away from winning.
"You don't want to as a coach be talking about ifs and buts, we had enough open looks to turn that game in the second half. Unfortunately we just couldn't make enough plays down the stretch."
Shawn Roundtree Jr. scored 17 points, Luke Meyer had 15, and Cecil Williams added 14 for the Chippewas, who were within 4, 71-67, and at the free throw line with 1:52 remaining.
But Roundtree missed the charity toss, the front end of a one-and-one, and Kevin Zabo struck a staggering blow with a 3-pointer with 1:27 left to up the Golden Flashes' lead to 7, 74-67. Kent State made 10 of its 12 free throw attempts over the final 1:03 to hold the Chippewas at bay.
Zabo finished with 22 points and Jaylin Walker added 21 for Kent State.
David DiLeo and Kevin McKay added 11 points apiece for the Chippewas. DiLeo led CMU with 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Roundtree dished out five assists.
"We're solid right now," said Meyer, a senior, who made his 118th career start on Saturday. "We make some mistakes at crunch time. We have to go to practice and figure out in those crunch-time situations what we can do to be more solid. It's one or two possessions (a game) and we're in much better position than we are right now."
Kent State opened the second half with a 15-6 run to erase CMU's nine-point halftime lead.
"I think they came out of the half with more energy than us," DiLeo said. "They cut the lead right away and then we were basically playing even. They hit some big shots late. We just need to come together as a team, figure out how to get those stops late."
Of the Chippewas' six MAC losses, five have come by 11 points or less, and in all five of those cases, CMU was well within striking distance in the final minute or two. CMU plays host to Northern Illinois (10-11, 3-5) on Tuesday (7 p.m.).
"I know the resiliency of this team, the character of this team," Davis said. "It's not a season where we feel like it's gotten away from us; we feel like we're a play or two away from where we need to be - maybe not with the record we need to have, but where we need to be each and every time we step on the court.
"We've struggled a little bit in starting games and in starting second halves. I thought we brought the energy we needed to to start the game, and for one reason or another, the start of the second half wasn't where we needed to be.
"It's not like our guys fight us on it, they want to be better. They're frustrated that they haven't won more games in the conference but they're focused on becoming better individually and as a team."
