MBB Falls At Akron; Goes Into MAC Tournament Seeded 8th

Friday, March 4

Akron, Ohio

7 p.m.

Central Michigan University

7-22,6-12MAC

Akron

21-9,14-6MAC

Central Mich.

Akron

Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22

3/4/2022 9:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

AKRON, Ohio – A long season and now it's time for a short memory.

The Central Michigan men's basketball team stood toe-to-toe, again, with one of the Mid-American Conference's heavyweights on Friday before falling, 57-56, to Akron at the Zips' James Rhodes Arena.

The Chippewas finished the regular season 7-22, 6-12 MAC and go into the league tournament next week in Cleveland as the eighth seed.

"We've given ourselves a chance to play a brand-new season," first-year CMU coach Tony Barbee said. "Let's see if we can go and take advantage of it."

The Chippewas will open on Thursday, March 10 against regular-season champion Toledo. Down the stretch in the regular season, the Chippewas lost by two points to the Rockets and by two to second-place Kent State, the No. 2 seed in the tournament. Akron, 21-9, 14-5, is the four seed.

"We've got to have a short memory," Barbee said. "What matters now is everybody's starting 0-0. We've proven that we can play with the best teams in this league and now we've got to prove we can beat them if we're going to do something special."

The Chippewas nearly pulled off a rarity on Friday at Akron, where they have not won since 2003. The game featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes.

CMU led, 56-52, with a minute to play. Xavier Castaneda scored an inside and-one with 51 seconds left to bring Akron within a point, 56-55, and then Greg Tribble hit two free throws to put the Zips up, 57-56, with 32 seconds to play.

The Chippewas turned the ball over with 10 seconds left and Tribble went back to the line, where he missed both attempts. Kevin Miller's heavily contested shot attempt with 4 seconds remaining missed and the Zips rebounded to secure the win.

"Bottom line is the game of basketball is a game of will," Barbee said. "Their will to win at the end was stronger than our will to win."

Harrison Henderson scored 17 points, Ralph Bissainthe had 14, and Miller added 11. Brian Taylor led CMU on the boards with eight rebounds.

Henderson, a 6-foot-11 grad student, finished 4-of-8 from the field and 9-of-10 from the free throw line.

"I thought Harrison played a fantastic game for us," Barbee said. "He was a presence inside and if we're going to do something in Cleveland, he's got to be that way for us there."