Friday, March 15
Cleveland, Ohio
6:30 p.m. ET
Central Michigan University
23-11 (10-8MAC)
81
vs
85
No. 16/18 Buffalo
30-3 (16-2MAC)
1
2
F
Central Michigan
42
39
81
Buffalo
37
48
85
Photo by: Allissa Rusco
Valiant Chippewas Fall To Top-Seeded Buffalo
3/15/2019 11:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CMU drops MAC Tournament semifinal
CLEVELAND, Ohio – Keno Davis got pretty much everything he could out of a scrappy and undersized basketball team this season.
He needed just a little bit more on Friday night.
Davis' Central Michigan men's basketball team pushed No. 1-seeded Buffalo to the brink on Friday before succumbing, 85-81, in a Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal game at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Chippewas, the tournament's fifth seed, are 23-11 and will wait and see if they get a postseason bid. The 23 wins matches the 2014-15 squad for the most for a Davis-coached CMU team, and the 23 victories are the most for a Chippewa team since the 2002-03 team won 25 games.
"We knew that we were going to have to play a great game to have an opportunity to beat them," Davis said. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but very proud of our team, not just the way they played tonight, but the way they've played, conducted themselves, the entire season.
"It's been an honor to coach them and I'm going to miss this group."
The Chippewas played an uptempo game against the 18th-ranked Bulls, who will play Bowling Green on Saturday night for their second-consecutive MAC Tournament title and their fourth in the last five years. Bowling Green defeated Northern Illinois, 71-67, in the other semifinal.
The get-it-and-go strategy paid off as CMU slugged it out toe-to-toe with the Bulls (30-3) and led for much of the game.
"Everyone knows how physical Buffalo is," CMU senior guard Shawn Roundtree Jr. said. "We controlled pretty much the whole game until down the stretch. Proud of our guys, how we battled today. Unfortunately, it just didn't go our way."
Rob Montgomery led a balanced CMU attack with 17 points, while Roundtree and Larry Austin Jr. added 16 apiece. All five Chippewa starters scored in double figures as Kevin McKay added 14 points and David DiLeo had 10.
Roundtree tied the game at 76-all with two free throws with 3:33 to play. CJ Massinburg, the MAC Player of the Year Award winner, hit a free throw with 2:23 remaining to give Buffalo the lead for good. Massinburg went 7 for 7 from the line over the final 2:23 to keep CMU at bay.
Massinburg finished with 21 points.
"I just think we had a group of guys that were all hungry," said Montgomery, a junior. "I feel like we had a group of guys that had all been looked over, from previous schools or whatever the situation was, we'd been looked over and we found a spot that was comfortable for us and we felt like it was home and we knew we had a chance to be special this year.
"Just played every game hard, left it out there and I think that's what made us special this year."
Austin had four assists in the game, becoming CMU's single-season leader with 200. He passed Dave Grauzer, who had 196 in 1977-78.
Austin, like Roundtree and like Montgomery, transferred to CMU and turned in an outstanding senior season, earning Second Team All-MAC honors and leading the Chippewas in scoring at 17.4 points per game.
"I think Larry Austin shows you what determination, what hard work, the will to be great, what it is," Davis said. "If there's a player in college basketball that plays harder than him, I haven't seen him. He's got a bright upside as a basketball career. We wouldn't have had the kind of season that we had without him. I think more so than just this year, you're going to see some of the things that he instilled in our younger guys or our returning players are going to have an effect for years to come."
He needed just a little bit more on Friday night.
Davis' Central Michigan men's basketball team pushed No. 1-seeded Buffalo to the brink on Friday before succumbing, 85-81, in a Mid-American Conference Tournament semifinal game at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Chippewas, the tournament's fifth seed, are 23-11 and will wait and see if they get a postseason bid. The 23 wins matches the 2014-15 squad for the most for a Davis-coached CMU team, and the 23 victories are the most for a Chippewa team since the 2002-03 team won 25 games.
"We knew that we were going to have to play a great game to have an opportunity to beat them," Davis said. "Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but very proud of our team, not just the way they played tonight, but the way they've played, conducted themselves, the entire season.
"It's been an honor to coach them and I'm going to miss this group."
The Chippewas played an uptempo game against the 18th-ranked Bulls, who will play Bowling Green on Saturday night for their second-consecutive MAC Tournament title and their fourth in the last five years. Bowling Green defeated Northern Illinois, 71-67, in the other semifinal.
The get-it-and-go strategy paid off as CMU slugged it out toe-to-toe with the Bulls (30-3) and led for much of the game.
"Everyone knows how physical Buffalo is," CMU senior guard Shawn Roundtree Jr. said. "We controlled pretty much the whole game until down the stretch. Proud of our guys, how we battled today. Unfortunately, it just didn't go our way."
Rob Montgomery led a balanced CMU attack with 17 points, while Roundtree and Larry Austin Jr. added 16 apiece. All five Chippewa starters scored in double figures as Kevin McKay added 14 points and David DiLeo had 10.
Roundtree tied the game at 76-all with two free throws with 3:33 to play. CJ Massinburg, the MAC Player of the Year Award winner, hit a free throw with 2:23 remaining to give Buffalo the lead for good. Massinburg went 7 for 7 from the line over the final 2:23 to keep CMU at bay.
Massinburg finished with 21 points.
"I just think we had a group of guys that were all hungry," said Montgomery, a junior. "I feel like we had a group of guys that had all been looked over, from previous schools or whatever the situation was, we'd been looked over and we found a spot that was comfortable for us and we felt like it was home and we knew we had a chance to be special this year.
"Just played every game hard, left it out there and I think that's what made us special this year."
Austin had four assists in the game, becoming CMU's single-season leader with 200. He passed Dave Grauzer, who had 196 in 1977-78.
Austin, like Roundtree and like Montgomery, transferred to CMU and turned in an outstanding senior season, earning Second Team All-MAC honors and leading the Chippewas in scoring at 17.4 points per game.
"I think Larry Austin shows you what determination, what hard work, the will to be great, what it is," Davis said. "If there's a player in college basketball that plays harder than him, I haven't seen him. He's got a bright upside as a basketball career. We wouldn't have had the kind of season that we had without him. I think more so than just this year, you're going to see some of the things that he instilled in our younger guys or our returning players are going to have an effect for years to come."
Team Stats
CMU
UB
FG%
.485
.470
3FG%
.385
.188
FT%
.467
.708
RB
30
47
TO
8
11
STL
5
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
3
Pts
16
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
Guard
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