One For The Ages! Chippewas Stun First-Place Toledo

Tuesday, March 2

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

5 p.m.

Central Michigan University

7-15,3-12MAC

Toledo

19-7,14-4MAC

Toledo

Central Mich.

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

3/2/2021 8:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

CMU men rally from 17-point second-half deficit

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – A testament to never packing it in, no matter the circumstance, no matter the odds.

Meikkel Murray scored on a putback with 3 seconds remaining on Tuesday, as the battered and bruised – but oh so resilient – Central Michigan men's basketball team rallied from a 17-point deficit to knock off Mid-American Conference-leading Toledo, 81-79, at McGuirk Arena.

The shorthanded Chippewas, playing without two starters and with two players having fouled out, snapped an eight-game losing streak and won for the first time since mid-January.

It was career win No. 216 for ninth-year coach Keno Davis, whose Chippewas (7-15, 3-12 MAC) took down a Toledo team (19-7, 14-4) that was looking to clinch the outright MAC regular-season title with a victory.

"This is, in a lot of ways, the most-rewarding win," Davis said. "The biggest wins for coaches aren't the ones that send you to the NCAA (Tournament) or the ones that win your conference.

"It's the ones where you face adversity, and you find a way and you work extremely hard to be able to do it. It's not just because you have the best team out there and with what we were able to put out there with numbers, that's why in some ways there's no other game that's been more rewarding than this in my career."

Caleb Huffman scored 19 of his game-high 26 points in the second half and Murray added 24 as the Chippewas made an improbable comeback on an improbable night in the most adverse season imaginable.

The Chippewas entered Tuesday's game having gone 0-3 since their return from a 17-day COVID-induced layoff. They lost the first game after their return, to Miami (Ohio), by 42 points. Then played well in close losses at Buffalo and at Ball State.

"The character is revealed when you get knocked down, and we got knocked down in that (Miami) game, but we didn't get knocked out," Davis said. "I think sometimes you come to a turning point where you either come together and work harder and pick each other or you go your own direction.

"We've got a nice core group … All of a sudden we've had leaders emerge these last few weeks, guys speaking up in the locker room, guys speaking up on the court, guys speaking up on the road trips trying to lead."

The Chippewas have played with essentially a six-man rotation since their return and Tuesday's game was their fourth in seven days. They were running on fumes late against the Rockets when two starters, Huffman and Malik Muhammad, had fouled out; and two others, Murray and Ralph Bissainthe, were playing with four fouls.

"We hear the doubters, we see it on the internet sometimes, at the end of the day we've just got to go out there and play Central Michigan basketball," Murray said. "We're down to seven, eight guys. We're fighting our butts off. Just another testament to what our team really is."

The Chippewas trailed by 17 points five minutes into the second half and were down 10, 71-61, with just over five minutes remaining.

They went on a 10-2 run, capped by a top-of-the-key Huffman 3-pointer with 1:02 to play to tie the game, 77-77, and then took their first lead of the night, 79-77, on a short transition jumper from Murray with 35 seconds left.

Toledo tied it with two free throws with 25 seconds to play. After a timeout, the Chippewas milked the clocked down under 5 seconds and Matt Beachler launched a 3-pointer from above the circle that air-balled.

Murray was the right man in the right spot. His putback put CMU back in front to stay.

"I knew (Beachler) was going to shoot it so that's why I went down there," said Murray, who had nine rebounds. "I had to be prepared for the rebound. Luckily the ball fell right in my hands and I just went right back up with it with my reverse. That's basically my signature (move)."

Huffman caught fire in the second half as he continued to shine in the absence of leading scorer Travon Broadway Jr. The junior in his first season at CMU has scored 24, 24 and 26 points in his last three games.

"Shout out to Caleb Huffman," Murray said. "He's so good and he's so underrated. People don't understand how great he can become. He's a knockdown shooter, he plays with great energy. He brings that every night. When he started getting hot, we knew, we were like, 'This is your game. We'll fall right behind you. Just lead us.'"

Bissainthe made his fourth-consecutive start and finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds for his second-consecutive double-double.

It's been the attitude and the effort of the Huffmans, the Murrays, and the Bissainthes – among so many others – that has enabled the Chippewas to continue to weather a storm unlike any other.

The payoff came with Tuesday's stunner.

"People don't even know the half of it," Davis said, "of some of things that this group has gone through individually and as a team with health, with COVID, with injuries, just everything that has happened.

"Some of the character of this group was really revealed in the last couple weeks and I think you're going to see some of these young men go on to be really successful, not just in basketball; I think the competitiveness that they've been able to show will really pay off for them in whatever field and whatever they do beyond CMU."