Men's Basketball Rallies From 14-Point Deficit for 66-60 Win at Miami (Ohio)

Saturday, February 11

Oxford, Ohio

3:30 p.m.

Central Michigan University

9-16,4-8MAC

Miami (Ohio)

8-17,2-10MAC

Central Mich.

Miami (OH)

Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography

Men's Basketball Rallies From 14-Point Deficit for 66-60 Win at Miami (Ohio)

2/11/2023 6:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Boxscore (PDF)

Brian Taylor scores game-high 22 points, Reggie Bass scored Chippewas’ final six points, CMU hits 19 of 22 free throws in the second half to seal the victory, outrebounds Miami (Ohio) 42-22.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

OXFORD, Ohio—Senior Brian Taylor finished with a game-high 22 points and freshman Reggie Bass scored the Chippewas' final six points as the Central Michigan men's basketball team overcame a 14-point second half deficit to register a 66-60 road win at Miami (Ohio) Saturday at Millett Hall.

With the victory, Central Michigan notched its first conference road win of the season and swept Miami (Ohio) for the first time since the 1989-90 season. The Chippewas improve to 9-16 overall and 4-8 in MAC play, while Miami drops to 8-17 overall and 2-10 in the MAC.

"I'm proud of the way the guys competed today from start to finish," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "We talk about maturity, we talk about not letting adversity or a snowball continue to roll down hill. That snowball started rolling and we were down 14 points, but there was still no quit, they kept fighting for each other. There is no stop in this team, there is no quit in this team. Do we have lulls when we can't score? Yes. That happened today when we got down 14 points, but the guys competed."

After converting just 3-9 free throws in the first half, Central Michigan hit 73.1 percent (19-26) of its second half free throws.

"We are a good free throw shooting team," Barbee said. "As a team, we want to be selfish in a few areas. One of them is rebounding, get every one, and when you get to the free throw line, be selfish, make every one of them."

Central Michigan outrebounded Miami (Ohio) by 20 rebounds (42-22) and ended up drawing an opponent season-high 28 fouls on RedHawks players.

"We competed on the glass, and that was a big part of this win, attacking the glass on the offensive end of the floor," Barbee said. "Before the game, I challenged our group of big guys that they cannot be a liability for us. You've got to contribute to us winning or you're invisible and you contribute to its own demise. That is what's happened. Markus didn't have his best game, but I thought Nicolas and Miroslav were both a presence that got them in foul trouble."

Taylor led the Chippewas with 22 points on 6-13 shooting and 9-12 free throws. He also registered game-highs of eight rebounds and five assists. Bass finished with 11 points, nine in the second half, and hit 4-6 free throws, sophomore Nicolas Pavrette scored eight points (4-8 FG) with seven rebounds, and Caleb Hodgson came off the bench to put up career-highs for scoring (nine) and rebounding (five).

Trailing by 14 points (46-32) with 13:58 to play, Central Michigan gradually worked its way back into the game. The Chippewas used a 6-0 run fueled by a Pavrette floating jumper, two Caleb Hodgson free throws, and a Hodgson hook shot to trim the deficit down to eight points (46-38) with 10:33 to play.

Several minutes later, Bass nailed a 3-pointer at the top of the key to cut the margin down to four points (53-49) with 6:26 to play, Taylor and Stafl made free throws for a 53-51 deficit. Miami continued to hold off the Chippewas as Safford hit a layup and Lairy followed with two free throws, but Taylor's driving layup over a defender cut the deficit to one point at 57-56. Then on the next possession, Taylor drew a foul and converted both free throws for CMU's first lead since early in the game, 58-57, with 3:00 to play.

After a Stafl free throw tied the game at 60-60 with 2:03 to go, Miami was held scoreless over the game's final two minutes. Bass scored on a driving layup to give CMU a 62-60 lead with 34 seconds to play, then converted four free throws to seal the win.

"We competed," Barbee said. "They didn't back down, they played hard. We tried to pressure them and we tried to take them out of their offense. It starts at the point. Amani Drummond settled us down in that stretch. When Reggie finally collected himself, he came back in and contributed in a big way."

The second half started when Anderson Mirambeaux scored a layup down low and Mabrey gave Miami a 10-point lead (35-25) with a corner 3-pointer at the 18:23 mark. Miami then used a 7-0 run to go up by 14 points (44-30) with 15:59 to play. Lairy scored on a 3-pointer, Safford converted two free throws, and then scored on a layup for the 14-point lead, Miami's largest of the game up until that point.

Central Michigan played from behind for the majority of the first half as Miami (Ohio) held a 30-25 halftime lead. Ryan Mabrey hit a 3-pointer to give Miami a 17-12 lead with 8:52 to go in the first half. Mirambeaux, who scored 10 points in the first half, then hit two free throws for a 19-12 Miami lead with 7:48 to play. But back-to-back steals and layups for CMU by Amani Drummond and Max Majerle cut the deficit back down to 19-17, but Miami's Morgan Safford hit a 3-pointer and Mabry followed with another 3-pointer for a sizable eight-point lead (25-17) with 3:43 to go in the first half.

A Mekhi Lairy jumper kept Miami's lead at seven points, 28-21, Pavrette followed with two jumpers for CMU and Mirambeaux closed the half down with a layup with six seconds to play and a 30-25 lead for the hosts.

Early in the game, Hodgson gave CMU a lift off the bench as he scored on a layup down low and nailed a 3-pointer, his second of the season.

Wearing all gold, Central Michigan started Pavrette at center, Markus Harding at forward, Taylor, freshman Max Majerle and Bass at guard. Once again, leading scorer junior Jesse Zarzuela did not play.

Lairy led Miami (Ohio) with 18 points, Mirambeaux scored 14 points, Safford finished with 12 points, and Mabrey added 11 points.

Six regular season games remain for Central Michigan as the Chippewas play at Bowling Green on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

—CMU—