Chippewa Men Fall At Kent State

Saturday, January 30

Kent, Ohio

4 p.m.

Central Michigan University

6-10,2-7MAC

Kent State

9-4,6-3MAC

Central Mich.

Kent St.

Photo by: Benjamin Suddendorf

1/30/2021 7:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

KENT, Ohio – Career bests from Meikkel Murray and Caleb Huffman and, to the good, the Central Michigan men's basketball once again stood toe-to-toe with one of the Mid-American Conference's best teams.

But in the end, the Chippewas came up short, falling on Saturday to Kent State, 83-76, at the Golden Flashes' M.A.C. Center.

The loss left CMU 6-10, 2-7 MAC. The Golden Flashes are 9-4, 6-3. It closed a 12-day stretch during which the Chippewas played, and lost to on the road, the MAC's first-place team (Toledo), its second-place team (Akron), and its third-place team (Kent State).

The Chippewas will play seven of their final 11 league games at McGuirk Arena, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 2, with Ohio. The Bobcats won at Buffalo on Friday, 76-75, to improve to 10-6, 6-4.

"You look at going on the road to Kent State and you lose in a three-possession game," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "You think about all the little things that one possession here and one possession there. It's not that you're going to ask for perfection, but I think you have to understand that you have to get better in (certain) areas.

"Effort? Great. I like our energy; I like our effort. Now it's things like mentally being a little sharper and learning. The second half of this conference season is going to be important. We have to improve; we have to get healthy. There's no reason that we can't do both and if we do, we're going to be a formidable opponent the rest of the way."

How It Happened
The game featured seven lead changes and three ties. The Chippewas last led, 57-56, with just over 13 minutes to play.

Kent State's Malique Jacobs scored on a layup with 13:06 remaining to touch off an 11-0 run that ended with a Danny Pippen 3-pointer with 10:03 remaining, leaving the Chippewas down 10, 67-57.

CMU hung in, and trimmed its deficit to five, 67-62, but another Kent State spurt, this one 12-3, put the Chippewas down 14 with under three minutes to play and proved to be the knockout blow.

Leaders
Murray finished with 26 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double in three games. Both numbers were career highs for the junior in his first year at CMU after transferring from Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College.

Huffman, who is also in his first season at CMU after coming to Mount Pleasant from Iowa Western Community College, had 23 points and six boards, his best rebounding effort as a Chippewa. He drained a career-best five 3-pointers in seven attempts.

"When you see guys like Meikkel Murray and Caleb Huffman and what they're able to do on the court, you see that we've got pieces that can be really good," Davis said. "I've had teams that have been rebuilding and you get to about halfway through the conference you're just trying to keep attitude and stay together and finish the year. This isn't one of those teams.

"Sometimes you see the improvement even though the scoreboard doesn't always show it. This team has a chance to beat anybody and we know we have to win some games down the stretch to give ourselves a chance at (getting to) Cleveland (MAC Tournament). If we do take care of some of those things and get better, I like our chances. I really do."