Second Half Comeback Falls Short for Chippewas at No. 15/15 Marquette, 70-62

MILWAUKEE, Wis.—It was a tale of two halves for the Central Michigan men's basketball.

After playing a poor first half which saw it commit 16 turnovers leading to 26 Marquette points and 13 steals, and yielding a 21-0 run to the host Golden Eagles, the Chippewas battled back in the second half, outscoring the hosts 35-28, outrebounding the hosts 26-11 and cutting the lead down as few as five points.

But it wasn't enough as No. 15/15 Marquette eventually held off Central Michigan for a 70-62 Monday men's basketball victory before 14,757 fans at Fiserv Forum. The loss drops CMU to 1-2 overall, while Marquette improves to 3-0.

The matchup marked CMU's second Marquette Challenge game. Next up, the Chippewas will play its final Marquette Challenge game when they travel to Fairfax, Va. to take on George Mason on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.

Kyler VanderJagt led Central Michigan with a game and career-high 19 points on 6-10 field goal shooting and 3-4 shooting from 3-point range. Ugnius Jarusevicius registered his first career double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds, and Jakobi Heady added 11 points.

Four Marquette players reached double figure scoring including Stevie Mitchell with 17 points, Kam Jones (eight assists) and Chase Ross with 12 points apiece, while Ben Gold added 10.

Central Michigan dominated the boards as it outrebounded Marquette 46-27 with 13 offensive rebounds.

But in the end, the Chippewas turned the ball over 26 times which led to a total of 33 points off turnovers and 19 steals for Marquette. CMU shot just 24 percent (6-25) from 3-point range and 37.5 percent (21-52) on field goals.

Central Michigan made up the ground in the second half. Trailing by 15 points (53-38) with 14:19 to go, Central Michigan went on a 10-0 run to trim Marquette's lead down to eight points (56-48) with 8:24 to go. Damarion Bonds started the rally with a floating jumper in the paint, Hunter Harding followed with a layup, and Cayden Vasko converted a 3-point play. Kyler VanderJagt swished a 3-pointer with 10:03 to play and suddenly Central Michigan was within five points at 53-48.

That was as close as the visiting Chippewas came as Marquette held off CMU the rest of the way.

Marquette used a 21-0 first half run to take control of the game. With the score tied at 15-15 with 10:45 to go in the first half, Marquette took advantage of six CMU turnovers to go on a 21-0 run. When CMU's Kyler VanderJagt finally scored on a tipin with 6:45 to play in the first half, Marquette held a 36-17 lead.

Royce Parham started the run with a 3-pointer, after a CMU turnover, Jones hit a 3-pointer, another CMU turnover led to a Jones layup, Parham then stole the ball and drove in for a layup, and Mitchell hit a 3-pointer. Jones and Mitchell both followed with 3-pointers and another steal led to another Jones layup for the 21-point lead.

Central Michigan trimmed the lead down to 15 points (42-27) at halftime.

CMU started Ndjonga, Harding, Vasko, and Pritchard for the third straight game. Ugnius Jarusevicius made his first career start.

CMU men's basketball season tickets and single game tickets are already on sale. Fans can order season tickets by calling Ticket Central at (989) 774-3045, by ordering on this link, or by stopping by Ticket Central located in the John G. Kulhavi Events Center between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Single-game tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 16. For more information, click here.

—CMU—

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Team Stats

Kyler VanderJagt

Jakobi Heady

Ugnius Jarusevicius

Cayden Vasko

Players Mentioned

Damarion Bonds

Hunter Harding

Jakobi Heady

Ugnius Jarusevicius

Kyler VanderJagt

Cayden Vasko