Saturday, January 25
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
4:30 p.m.
Central Michigan University
11-8,4-2MAC
71
vs
66
Ball State
11-8,4-2MAC
1
2
F
Ball St.
27
39
66
Central Mich.
33
38
71
Senior Dallas Morgan leads a Chippewa fastbreak on Saturday in CMU's victory over Ball State at McGuirk Arena.
Photo by: Allissa Rusco
Chippewa Men Forge First-Place Tie With Win Over Ball State
1/25/2020 8:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CMU bounces back from loss to Buffalo
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – As good as gold.
Wearing gold uniforms for the first time since 2014, the Central Michigan men's basketball team moved into a first-place tie in the Mid-American Conference West Division on Saturday with a 71-66 victory over Ball State at McGuirk Arena.
Both CMU and Ball State are 11-8, 4-2 West. The Cardinals entered the game in first place while the Chippewas were second. The teams will meet again on March 3 in Muncie Ind.
How It Happened
CMU was up 56-46 with more than eight minutes remaining when Ball State went on an 11-3 run to cut the Chippewa lead to 59-57 with four minutes remaining.
The Chippewas answered with a 9-1 run, triggered by a Rob Montgomery jumper at the 3:43 mark. The spurt ended with a Dallas Morgan jumper with 1:22 remaining, putting the Chippewas up, 68-58. Morgan scored seven points during the game-breaking surge.
Leaders
Morgan hit nine of his 14 field goal attempts including a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point range to lead the Chippewas with 21 points. It marked the sixth time this season that Morgan has scored 20 or more points in game.
DiLeo added 14 points, Kevin McKay had 13, Montgomery finished with 11, and Devontae Lane had 10.
McKay, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with an injury, led the Chippewas with nine rebounds.
Bounceback
The win improved CMU's home record to 10-1 and it came one week after the Chippewas lost for the first time at home this season when they fell to Buffalo, 86-67.
"After that Buffalo (loss) we really focused on execution, not just on offense, but on defense," CMU senior David DiLeo said. "It was good to see us get out there and execute. We started sloppy, had a couple of turnovers early. But, we kind of calmed down and executed for the most part."
"I think our chance to be able to win this year is our depth," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "(It's also) the opportunity to win in different ways. We can win on our pressure defense, in our half-court defense. We can win offensively by driving to the basket or knocking down threes."
Key Stat
The Chippewas forced a season-high 28 turnovers with 18 of those turnovers coming off steals, which ties their season high. Travon Broadway Jr. and Montgomery had four steals each.
"We were able to get in our press a little bit," DiLeo said. "Our coaches did a great job of putting in a great scouting report and we did a great job executing the game plan. We took them out of their stuff, made them a little uncomfortable."
Gritty Play
The Chippewas did not have a mid-week game and they used the time to recuperate and regain some energy, which was critical coming off the loss to Buffalo.
"We just looked tired and warn out (against Buffalo)," Davis said. "It was nice for us to take a couple of days off from practice and try to re-energize ourselves. We had a great week of practice after we took the first couple of days off. I felt good coming into the game, and I feel good going into the rest of the season."
"Each loss, we always learn something and improve on it," Morgan said. "We just knew that we had to play on both ends of the floor and make sure we got stops on defense. We knew the offense would come."
Next
CMU will go to Oxford, Ohio on Tuesday, Jan. 28 (7 p.m.) take on Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks are 9-11, 2-4, after a 73-68 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
The Chippewas defeated Miami, 93-82, in the league opener on Jan. 4.
Wearing gold uniforms for the first time since 2014, the Central Michigan men's basketball team moved into a first-place tie in the Mid-American Conference West Division on Saturday with a 71-66 victory over Ball State at McGuirk Arena.
Both CMU and Ball State are 11-8, 4-2 West. The Cardinals entered the game in first place while the Chippewas were second. The teams will meet again on March 3 in Muncie Ind.
How It Happened
CMU was up 56-46 with more than eight minutes remaining when Ball State went on an 11-3 run to cut the Chippewa lead to 59-57 with four minutes remaining.
The Chippewas answered with a 9-1 run, triggered by a Rob Montgomery jumper at the 3:43 mark. The spurt ended with a Dallas Morgan jumper with 1:22 remaining, putting the Chippewas up, 68-58. Morgan scored seven points during the game-breaking surge.
Leaders
Morgan hit nine of his 14 field goal attempts including a 3-for-5 effort from 3-point range to lead the Chippewas with 21 points. It marked the sixth time this season that Morgan has scored 20 or more points in game.
DiLeo added 14 points, Kevin McKay had 13, Montgomery finished with 11, and Devontae Lane had 10.
McKay, who returned to the lineup after missing three games with an injury, led the Chippewas with nine rebounds.
Bounceback
The win improved CMU's home record to 10-1 and it came one week after the Chippewas lost for the first time at home this season when they fell to Buffalo, 86-67.
"After that Buffalo (loss) we really focused on execution, not just on offense, but on defense," CMU senior David DiLeo said. "It was good to see us get out there and execute. We started sloppy, had a couple of turnovers early. But, we kind of calmed down and executed for the most part."
"I think our chance to be able to win this year is our depth," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "(It's also) the opportunity to win in different ways. We can win on our pressure defense, in our half-court defense. We can win offensively by driving to the basket or knocking down threes."
Key Stat
The Chippewas forced a season-high 28 turnovers with 18 of those turnovers coming off steals, which ties their season high. Travon Broadway Jr. and Montgomery had four steals each.
"We were able to get in our press a little bit," DiLeo said. "Our coaches did a great job of putting in a great scouting report and we did a great job executing the game plan. We took them out of their stuff, made them a little uncomfortable."
Gritty Play
The Chippewas did not have a mid-week game and they used the time to recuperate and regain some energy, which was critical coming off the loss to Buffalo.
"We just looked tired and warn out (against Buffalo)," Davis said. "It was nice for us to take a couple of days off from practice and try to re-energize ourselves. We had a great week of practice after we took the first couple of days off. I felt good coming into the game, and I feel good going into the rest of the season."
"Each loss, we always learn something and improve on it," Morgan said. "We just knew that we had to play on both ends of the floor and make sure we got stops on defense. We knew the offense would come."
Next
CMU will go to Oxford, Ohio on Tuesday, Jan. 28 (7 p.m.) take on Miami (Ohio). The RedHawks are 9-11, 2-4, after a 73-68 win over Eastern Michigan on Saturday.
The Chippewas defeated Miami, 93-82, in the league opener on Jan. 4.
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Team Stats
BSU
CMU
FG%
.449
.397
3FG%
.263
.294
FT%
.680
.762
RB
42
31
TO
28
16
STL
6
18
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Pts
13
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
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