Hot-Shooting Bowling Green Outlasts Men's Basketball 83-61

Tuesday, January 24

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7 p.m.

Central Michigan University

7-13,2-5MAC

Bowling Green

10-10,4-3MAC

Bowling Green

Central Mich.

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

1/24/2023 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Chippewas held to season-low point total for a half (23) in the first half; CMU led by Jesse Zarzuela’s 24 points.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Hot shooting Bowling Green jumped out to an early lead by converting five of its first six 3-pointers and 11 of its first 15 field goals and coasted to an 83-61 men's basketball win at Central Michigan Tuesday evening at McGuirk Arena.

Leon Ayers scored 19 of his game-high 24 points in the first half to help the visiting Falcons build a 52-23 halftime lead. In the first half alone, Bowling Green shot 67.9 percent (19-28) and 57.1 percent (8-14) from 3-point range. The 52 points tied for the most points scored against CMU in a half. In contrast, the Chippewas tallied their fewest points in a half (23) this year. Bowling Green also outrebounded the Chippewas 41-23.

The Falcons concluded the game by shooting 55.3 percent (26-47) from the floor. Samari Curtis also added 19 points after hitting 14 of 16 free throws for Bowling Green.

Bowling Green used an 11-0 run to take a 16-4 lead early in the game. Chandler Turner started the run with a pull-up jumper, Brenton Mills scored on back-to-back driving layups, then Leon Ayers hit a 3-pointer, and Rashaun Agee followed with a driving layup for the 16-4 lead. The Chippewas spent the rest of the half trying to play catch-up.

"Bowling Green was the better team tonight," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "Not taking anything away from them, but we've been ravaged with the flu bug for the last 72 hours and it showed tonight. We are drained. We had no life, no energy. We haven't practiced for 42 hours because of the flu. We just didn't have it tonight. The whole team has been affected and we probably shouldn't have played the game because of the flu bug."

Three-pointers by Kaden Metheny and Ayers 3-pointer gave the Falcons a 22-9 lead with 11:34 to play in the first half. Another 7-0 run by Bowling Green gave the visitors a 27-11 advantage at the 8:37 mark.

Samari Curtis made it 30-12 Bowling Green with a 3-pointer and the Falcons went up 20 points (34-14) on a Gabe O'Neal layup with under six minutes in the half.

For Central Michigan, junior Jesse Zarzuela led the way with 24 points on 9-17 shooting and 3-6 3-point shooting before fouling out. He registered his third straight 20-point scoring game, sixth consecutive game in double figures, and hit three or more 3-pointers in a contest for the eighth time this year.

The Chippewas won the second half, 38-31.

Central Michigan played nine players in the game. Nicolas Pavrette, Markus Harding, Brian Taylor, Reggie Bass and Max Majerle made the start for the Chippewas.

CMU dropped to 7-13 overall and 2-5 in the MAC, while Bowling Green improves to 10-10 overall and 4-3 in the MAC.

Central Michigan hosts Western Michigan for its Toilet Paper Toss Game on Saturday at McGuirk Arena. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. ET at McGuirk Arena.

"It's good to have CMU legend Dan Majerle back," Barbee said. "A bunch of his former teammates will be there, players from different generations and eras. It's always neat when you have the support of the alumni and former players because the current team needs to know who came before them and what they're playing for. It's neat to have those former players here to experience what was a great tradition here forever, the Toilet Paper Toss."

"We've got to give these fans a reason to come to our other games. Hopefully, we can gain some life and energy. Hopefully we're healthy on Saturday."

—CMU—