Men's Basketball Comeback Falls Short vs. High Point, 68-67

Monday, November 21

San Juan Capistrano, Calif.

5:30 p.m. ET

Central Michigan University

1-3,0-0MAC

High Point

4-1,0-0Big South

Central Mich.

High Point

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

11/21/2022 8:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Boxscore (PDF)

Brian Taylor leads Central Michigan with 18 points, Jesse Zarzuela and Max Majerle finish with 13 points; CMU will face Cal State Northridge in the SoCal Challenge Consolation Game on Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET/Noon PT.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif.—In a closely-contested, back-and-forth matchup that saw both teams hold sizeable leads and make runs at various points in the game, Central Michigan dropped a 68-67 men's basketball decision to High Point Monday evening in the first round of the Venue Twin SoCal Challenge.

Central Michigan (1-3) will now face Cal State Northridge in the SoCal Challenge consolation game at The Pavilion at JSerra on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. ET/noon PT for a FloSports.com televised contest. Cal State Northridge lost a 74-73 decision to Tennessee State in Monday's other semifinal matchup.

Four Central Michigan players reached double figure scoring led by senior Brian Taylor's career-high 18 points. Junior Jesse Zarzuela finished with 13 points on two 3-pointers, freshman Max Majerle registered career-highs for points (13) and 3-point field goals (three), and junior Carrington McCaskill scored a career-high 11 points to go along with nine rebounds. Senior Miroslav Stafl pulled down a team-high 10 rebounds.

High Point (4-1) was led by Jaden House's game-high 26 points. House hit nine of 19 field goals and 7-8 free throws in 34 minutes of action. Abdoulaye Thiam finished with 11 points, while Bryant Randleman and Zach Austin contributed 10 points apiece.

Trailing 68-67 with eight seconds to play, Central Michigan had one last possession, but the Chippewas missed on a jumper at the buzzer. After High Point used an 8-0 run to grab a 66-61 lead, Central Michigan answered when McCaskill swished a jumper and Emil Skytta scored on a fast break layup. After House scored on a layup, McCaskill followed with a baseline dunk off a pass from Zarzuela to cut High Point's lead to one point at 68-67 with 1:31 to play. In the closing minutes, both teams had opportunities to score. The Chippewas got the ball back on the final possession after High Point missed a 3-pointer.

Central Michigan held a 16-point lead midway through the first half. CMU used a 7-0 run on a Majerle 3-pointer, a Zarzuela layup and Stafl jumper to go up 23-11. Later, back-to-back 3-pointers by Stafl and Majerle gave Central Michigan a 29-13 lead with 5:36 to play in the first half.

But High Point battled back into the game by putting together a 12-0 run before the half to trim CMU's lead down to 30-27 at halftime. House scored eight of the Panthers' 12 points in the rally, including three free throws, a 3-pointer, and a jumper in the paint.

The second half saw both teams make runs and take leads. High Point used a 7-0 run to take the lead. Thiam's driving layup gave the Panthers a 10-point (53-43) lead with 10:32 to play.

The Chippewas erased the Panthers' lead with a 10-0 run of their own, using six points from Taylor and four points from Bass to tie the game at 53-53 with 8:09 to play.

Then Majerle buried a 3-pointer to give Central Michigan its first lead since the first half, a one-point advantage (59-58) with 5:32 to play, and Taylor followed with two free throws, but the Chippewas couldn't hold on as High Point responded with three straight layups, two by Randleman and one by House, to take the lead back 64-61 with 3:17 to play.

Zarzuela and McCaskill both made their first career starts in a CMU uniform, while Stafl registered his first start of the season. CMU leading scorer Kevin Miller and forward Markus Harding both did not play.

Central Michigan shot 39 percent (23-59) from the floor and hit eight of 24 3-point attempts. The Chippewas were outrebounded 47-35 and outscored 44-24 in the paint.