Chippewa Men Fall At Akron

Thursday, January 21

Akron, Ohio

6 p.m.

Central Michigan University

6-9,2-6MAC

Akron

7-3,5-2MAC

Central Mich.

Akron

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

1/21/2021 8:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Murray's paces CMU with career-high 25 points

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

AKRON, Ohio – Another road game, another battle with one of the Mid-American Conference's elite teams.

Akron used an 11-0 run spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the second on Thursday in handing Central Michigan an 81-67 loss in a MAC men's basketball game at the Zips' Rhodes Arena.

The loss left CMU 6-9, 2-6 MAC. Akron, the defending MAC champion, won its third straight game to improve to 7-3, 5-2. The Zips moved into second place in the conference.

How It Happened
Akron scored seven straight points over the final 1:30 of the first half to turn a 38-37 deficit into a 44-38 halftime lead. The Zips scored the first five points of the second half to extend their lead to 11, 49-38.

The Chippewas never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

Keys
CMU did an admirable job of limiting the league's leading scorer, Loren Cristian Jackson, but his teammates more than picked up the slack.

Bryan Trimble hit seven of his 14 3-point attempts in scoring 25 points to lead the Zips, who finished with 12 triples on the night to the Chippewas' one.

Jackson, the reigning MAC Player of the Year, entered the contest averaging 21.9 points per game. He had 13 points and tied his career high with 10 assists.

Leaders
Junior Meikkel Murray scored a career-high 23 points to lead CMU, while Travon Broadway Jr. added 17.

Murray set his previous high, 20 points, on Tuesday in CMU's loss at Toledo.

Game Plan
The Chippewas attempted just six 3-pointers – far and away their season low – as the game plan was clear: get to the basket and draw fouls. The Chippewas attempted 25 charity tosses and made 20.

"I like the fact that we turned down a lot of 3-point shots that we didn't turn down against Toledo and we got to the rim; sometimes we got the call and sometimes we didn't. But I think we're learning at a rapid pace," CMU coach Keno Davis said.

Coach Keno Davis
"As a coach, much like a fan, it's tough sometimes to see the positives whenever you lose. But I think coming off this trip to Toledo and at Akron there's some really big bright spots for our team," Davis said. "Akron made some great shots in the first half, so you tip your hat to them on that and we weren't able to make enough plays.

"But effort isn't lacking and that's the most important thing and I think there are some adjustments we can make in the next couple of weeks. We've talked about the second half of the season and being able to make a run. We have to get better, we have to get healthy, but I don't see that there's any reason why both can't occur and (we) can be successful."

Road Warriors
The Chippewas are midway through a rugged four-game stretch, all on the road. They are scheduled to go to Buffalo on Tuesday, Jan. 26, and then to Kent State on Saturday, Jan. 26.

By next Saturday, the Chippewas will have faced teams over the four-game stretch that currently sit in first place (Toledo), second (Akron), fourth (Kent State) and sixth (Buffalo) in the league standings.

"You hope that with this demanding of a schedule we're going to become so much better as a team and if we can coincide that with our health, I have high goals for this team," Davis said.