Chippewa Men Roll Past Eastern Michigan

Saturday, January 16

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

4:30 p.m.

Central Michigan University

6-7,2-4MAC

Eastern Michigan

4-5,1-4MAC

Eastern Mich.

Central Mich.

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

1/16/2021 8:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Big win when the Chippewas could sorely use one.

Travon Broadway Jr. scored a career-high 25 points on Saturday in leading the Central Michigan men's basketball team to a 75-64 Mid-American Conference victory over Eastern Michigan at McGuirk Arena.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak as CMU improved to 6-7, 2-4 MAC. Eastern is 4-5, 1-4. The Chippewas defeated Eastern, 87-60, on Dec. 29 in Ypsilanti and they swept the season series from the Eagles for the second time in three years.

"This was a big win because we've been on a little drought (and) to get back in the win column is big," said Broadway, who also tied his career high with five steals. "When you're winning, everything's going good, everybody's feeling good about themselves and the team. We had good practices leading up (to the game) so now we just try to build on this win; keep going."

How It Happened
The Chippewas used a 15-0 run late in the first half to turn a 25-18 deficit into a 33-25 lead with under a minute to play in the half.

"We started sharing the ball, started pushing the fastbreak, started looking up ahead, making the extra pass … making better choices," Broadway said.

CMU started the second half on a 9-0 run to extend its lead to 16, 45-29, with about 17 minutes to play. The Eagles never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Keys
The Chippewas forced 14 Eastern turnovers and held the Eagles to just three 3-pointers on 24 attempts.

By all but silencing Eastern's outside game, the Chippewas forced the Eagles to drive to the basket. CMU was solid in that department too, cutting off the gaps and the passing lanes.

"We made a concerted effort to contain the ball so we put pressure on the guy guarding the ball to keep it in front of him and we wanted to make sure we got in our gaps and shrunk the floor," said assistant coach Chris Davis, who served as the head coach in place of Keno Davis, who missed the game because of illness. "We forced a lot of turnovers and for the most part did a good job with it."

Certainly, Davis said, executing the game plan was critical. It always is. So too is effort, particularly on the defensive end. His final message to the Chippewas before tipoff was to compete, play with intensity, and talk on defense, he said.

"We talk about that all the time and we ask them to do that for 40 minutes and tonight they did a really good job and played hard," he said. "At halftime we told them, 'You did a good job and it's only 20 minutes. You've got to play harder in the second half than you did in the first' and they stepped up to the challenge.

"We've moved the ball extremely well against Eastern in both games. We've got to be able to continue to do that, and we've got to be strong with it and sharp with. And we've got to defend."

Leaders
Meikkel Murray added 17 points for CMU, Ralph Bissainthe came off the bench and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, and point guard Devontae Lane and Murray combined for eight assists against just three turnovers.

Emotional Lift
For the first time this season, the Chipewas played at home with fans in the stands. Family members of the players were allowed to attend the game.

"Our guys were so excited when they heard that their families could come," Davis said. "Now not all the families could come because they're from a distance and they didn't have the opportunity to get here quick enough.

"But they'll be here later and (the players) know that. You walk out and you hear people clapping and you hear them cheering. It meant a lot to our guys and they were excited to play for them. To have our families there meant the world."

Next
The Chippewas are scheduled to play at Toledo on Tuesday, Jan. 19 (7 p.m.). It is the first of four-consecutive road games for CMU. The Rockets are 11-4 and share the league lead with Bowling Green at 6-1. Toledo saw its eight-game win streak on Saturday with a 95-94 overtime loss to Akron.