Men's Basketball Tallies First Win of Season Over South Florida

TAMPA, Fla. -- With just 14 ticks left on the clock, center Markus Harding sunk two free throws to slam the door on the University of South Florida and secure Central Michigan basketball its first win of the new season on Wednesday night.

"It was much needed, believe me," coach Tony Barbee said. "I mean the guys have been battling their butts off and playing hard as heck. And now you always want to feel the reward of it paying off by getting the W. And they did that tonight, we just got to keep this up."

The Chippewas never trailed, and the Bulls only managed to tie up the score on three occasions as CMU (1-3) cruised to victory. Defensively, the Chippewas held their opponent to 31.6% shooting and just 1-17 from three-point range.

Meanwhile, CMU shot a touch under 50% from the field and made 53.3% of its 15 long-range shots. Of their 26 made field goals, 13 of them were assisted on.

While the effort and intensity were present among the Chippewas for the entire contest, it was the second-half performance that Barbee was particularly pleased with.

"Everyone helped us in what they did on the floor defending and rebounding, and it really revealed itself in the second half," he said. "This was the first game this year that we won the second half in terms of field goal percentage and defense. All the other teams have almost been a 10-to-15-point advantage from the first half to the second half with the defense away from us. Our guys really competed and defended on that end of the floor in the second half with the defense away from our bench where us coaches couldn't really direct them through everything."

Key to such an impressive second-half performance was junior guard Anthony Pritchard, who logged 14 of his team-leading 22 points in the half. He also finished the game with team highs in assists (five) and rebounds (six).

The Chippewas put together a 7-0 run a little less than midway through the second half, pushing their lead to 12 (53-41) and giving them their first lead of double digits. USF got the lead down to five a few times late in the game, but never any closer.

The two teams were quite even in the paint, as CMU had 28 points in that area to USF's 30. Rebounding numbers also looked almost identical, with the Bulls grabbing just one more than the Chippewas' tally of 35 on the night.

Also leaving their marks on the stat sheet in the game were Harding (13 points, five rebounds) and sophomore guard Paul McMillan IV (10 points, four rebounds, two assists).

Five different Chippewas registered at least four rebounds, while another three dished out at least three assists, demonstrating the balanced production CMU has across its roster.

The Chippewas will pick their Sunshine Slam slate back up on Monday, Nov. 20 with a contest against Siena at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. The game is set to tip off at 11:30 a.m. ET.

Men's Basketball Tallies First Win of Season Over South Florida

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Team Stats

Anthony Pritchard

Markus Harding

Paul McMillan IV

Jemal Davis

Players Mentioned

Markus Harding

Paul McMillan IV

Anthony Pritchard

Players Mentioned

Markus Harding

Paul McMillan IV

Anthony Pritchard