Wednesday, December 21
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
7 p.m.
Central Michigan University
4-8,0-0MAC
65
vs
76
Youngstown State
9-4,1-1Horizon
1
2
F
Youngstown St.
41
35
76
Central Mich.
32
33
65
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Men's Basketball Outshot by Youngstown State 76-65
12/21/2022 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Youngstown State shoots an opponent season-high 56.6 percent (30-53) from the floor; Central Michigan’s Brian Taylor finishes with 15 points, Markus Harding scores 14 points in loss.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Dwayne Cohill scored a game-high 26 points and Youngstown State shot an opponent-season-best 56.6 percent from the floor as the visiting Penguins defeated Central Michigan, 76-65, Wednesday evening at McGuirk Arena. With the win, Youngstown State improves to 9-4, while Central Michigan drops to 4-8.
Offensively, both teams played at a high level as Youngstown State hit 30 of 53 shots and Central Michigan finished at 52 percent (26-50). But Youngstown State used several runs to keep the Chippewas at bay.
Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee saw some positives but was not pleased with his team's defensive performance.
"Defensively, we are just not very good right now," Barbee said. "Your defense starts on the ball at the point of attack. Without Kevin (Miller), we don't have that guy who can dog the ball for a full 40 minutes and not get tired. We did some good things offensively. We shot over 50 percent, which we haven't done in a long time. We had way too many turnovers. At the end of the day, when you let them shoot 56 percent, you're not going to win many games. Defensively, we've got to be better."
Central Michigan was led by senior Brian Taylor's 15 points, junior Markus Harding came off the bench to score 14 points and hit a career-high two 3-pointers, and junior Jesse Zarzuela added 11 points and a career-high seven assists. Miller missed his seventh straight game.
Four Youngstown State players reached double figure scoring led by Cohill's 26. Malek Green finished with 16 points, Brandon Rush scored 15, and Adrian Nelson added 10 and eight rebounds.
Trailing by nine points at halftime, Central Michigan entered the second half with renewed energy as the Chippewas slowly clawed their way back into the game. CMU outscored YSU 10-2 over a three-minute span to cut the deficit to three points (47-44) with 15:45 to play. A 3-pointer by Reggie Bass and a layup by Ola Ajiboye started the rally, and then following two YSU free throws, Harding swished a 3-pointer and Max Majerle turned a fast break into a layup.
That was as close as CMU came as Youngstown State answered by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers by Cohill and scoring 14 of the next 16 points to go up 63-48 with 9:45 to go.
The Chippewas made one last push fueled by pressure defense, three field goals by Nico Pavrette, and a 3-pointer by Taylor to cut the margin to three, but the Penguins answered with a flurry of baskets to keep the hosts at bay.
After a closely contested start to the game, Youngstown State opened the game up by outscoring CMU 10-3 over a three-minute first half span to take a 10-point lead (30-20), The Penguins expanded their lead to 13-points (35-22) with 3:34 left in the first half on a dunk by Nelson and a 3-pointer by Cohill. YSU pushed its lead to 39-24 on a dunk by Brandon Rush.
A Markus Harding jumper cut YSU's advantage down to nine points at halftime (41-32). Harding and Taylor kept the Chippewas in the game in the first half as the duo scored 11 and 10 points respectively.
"We are searching right now with who I think is the best player in the MAC not playing, Kevin Miller, not playing," Barbee said. "Without him on the floor, we are playing a lot of guys out of position. Injuries are part of the game so we're trying to get this learning curve sped up. When you're the 315th youngest team in the country, you're going to go through some growing pains, especially when you don't have your best player and leader and heart and soul of the team out on the floor. Without him, we get disoriented and disjointed. We are not the same team without him."
Next up for the Central Michigan men's basketball team is a road contest at Michigan on Thursday, Dec. 29 in Ann Arbor. Tipoff for that contest is at 7 p.m.
Offensively, both teams played at a high level as Youngstown State hit 30 of 53 shots and Central Michigan finished at 52 percent (26-50). But Youngstown State used several runs to keep the Chippewas at bay.
Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee saw some positives but was not pleased with his team's defensive performance.
"Defensively, we are just not very good right now," Barbee said. "Your defense starts on the ball at the point of attack. Without Kevin (Miller), we don't have that guy who can dog the ball for a full 40 minutes and not get tired. We did some good things offensively. We shot over 50 percent, which we haven't done in a long time. We had way too many turnovers. At the end of the day, when you let them shoot 56 percent, you're not going to win many games. Defensively, we've got to be better."
Central Michigan was led by senior Brian Taylor's 15 points, junior Markus Harding came off the bench to score 14 points and hit a career-high two 3-pointers, and junior Jesse Zarzuela added 11 points and a career-high seven assists. Miller missed his seventh straight game.
Four Youngstown State players reached double figure scoring led by Cohill's 26. Malek Green finished with 16 points, Brandon Rush scored 15, and Adrian Nelson added 10 and eight rebounds.
Trailing by nine points at halftime, Central Michigan entered the second half with renewed energy as the Chippewas slowly clawed their way back into the game. CMU outscored YSU 10-2 over a three-minute span to cut the deficit to three points (47-44) with 15:45 to play. A 3-pointer by Reggie Bass and a layup by Ola Ajiboye started the rally, and then following two YSU free throws, Harding swished a 3-pointer and Max Majerle turned a fast break into a layup.
That was as close as CMU came as Youngstown State answered by hitting back-to-back 3-pointers by Cohill and scoring 14 of the next 16 points to go up 63-48 with 9:45 to go.
The Chippewas made one last push fueled by pressure defense, three field goals by Nico Pavrette, and a 3-pointer by Taylor to cut the margin to three, but the Penguins answered with a flurry of baskets to keep the hosts at bay.
After a closely contested start to the game, Youngstown State opened the game up by outscoring CMU 10-3 over a three-minute first half span to take a 10-point lead (30-20), The Penguins expanded their lead to 13-points (35-22) with 3:34 left in the first half on a dunk by Nelson and a 3-pointer by Cohill. YSU pushed its lead to 39-24 on a dunk by Brandon Rush.
A Markus Harding jumper cut YSU's advantage down to nine points at halftime (41-32). Harding and Taylor kept the Chippewas in the game in the first half as the duo scored 11 and 10 points respectively.
"We are searching right now with who I think is the best player in the MAC not playing, Kevin Miller, not playing," Barbee said. "Without him on the floor, we are playing a lot of guys out of position. Injuries are part of the game so we're trying to get this learning curve sped up. When you're the 315th youngest team in the country, you're going to go through some growing pains, especially when you don't have your best player and leader and heart and soul of the team out on the floor. Without him, we get disoriented and disjointed. We are not the same team without him."
Next up for the Central Michigan men's basketball team is a road contest at Michigan on Thursday, Dec. 29 in Ann Arbor. Tipoff for that contest is at 7 p.m.
—CMU—
Team Stats
YSU
CMU
FG%
.566
.520
3FG%
.313
.300
FT%
1.000
.700
RB
27
22
TO
14
16
STL
9
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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