Central Michigan University Athletics
Tuesday, February 27
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
7 p.m.
Central Michigan University
16-12,10-5MAC
71
vs
79
Ball State
14-14,6-9MAC
1
2
F
Ball St.
38
41
79
Central Mich.
31
40
71
Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw
Comeback Falls Short, Men's Basketball Drops 79-71 Decision to Ball State
2/27/2024 10:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Chippewas make 10 3-point shots in loss; Paul McMillan IV finishes with a career-high 25 points.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – The Central Michigan Men's Basketball team mounted a late comeback attempt against Ball State on Tuesday night, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals held off the Chippewas and registered a 79-71 decision Tuesday evening at McGuirk Arena.
The loss snapped a six-game Central Michigan win streak. CMU dropped to 10-5 in MAC play and 16-11 overall. The Chippewas are still in third place, tied with Ohio at 10-5, one-game behind second-place Toledo (11-4) and two games behind Akron (12-3).
With 37 seconds left on the clock, CMU sophomore guard Paul McMillan IV brought the Chippewas to within five points on a corner 3-point shot, which gave him a team-high 25 points. It was the closest CMU came to the lead in the second half after trailing by as many as 18.
The spotlight was on McMillan IV all night, who shot a blistering 10-for-14 from the floor. However, he was not satisfied with the ultimate result for a team with its eyes on postseason play.
"First and foremost, I just wanted to get the win," he said. "We dropped the one at Miami a couple days ago. Coming home for a home game, it's been a long time since we've lost at home. So first I just wanted to come off and get the win."
Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee believes that the style of play his team has adopted this season, predicated around tough defense and hustle, has been somewhat missing the past few games.
"Our defense was poor," Barbee said. "It's been poor for two straight games now. It's been our calling card. It's been our staple and we've lost sight of that. We think it's something other than our defense and our toughness that has got us in the position that we're in. And now we've lost sight of our calling card, our staple, our identity, which is our defensive toughness and our toughness on the glass. It's (now) two games in a row that we've gotten bullied in those two areas."
Both teams enjoyed hot shooting nights from behind the 3-point line. The Chippewas converted 10-for-25 (40%) from long range, which was just edged out by Ball State's 10-for-23 (43.5%) performance.
Overall, CMU made 41.7% of its shots while the Cardinals converted on 49.1%.
The Chippewas started the game off hot, building their biggest lead of the night seven minutes into the contest on a layup from McMillan IV that gave them a 17-11 advantage. To that point, they had made seven of their 11 shots, and two of their three 3-point shots.
Ball State built its largest lead of the game, 18 points (58-40) with 13:08 to go on a Jalin Anderson jumper. Mickey Pearson, Jr. led the Cardinals with 25 points, Davion Bailey finished with 18, Anderson scored 14, and Basheer Jihad had 13.
In the second half, CMU was outscored by just one point as they fought to the final whistle. During the period, the Chippewas edged out the Cardinals in 3-point shots (6) and free throws (10) and registered an assist on eight of their 12 made field goals.
Central Michigan played without starting point guard Anthony Pritchard. Graduate guard Brian Taylor chipped in seven points on the night, which gives him 999 points as a Chippewa. One shy of 1,000, he'll look to reach the big milestone on Saturday (Mar. 2) when CMU travels to Kent State. Junior guard Derrick Butler added 16 of his own points. He didn't have a banner day shooting (3-for-13 from the floor), but did his damage via the free throw line, making a career-best 8-of-9.
The Chippewas have three remaining regular season games, with matchups against Kent State, Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan.
"We've got to find a way," Barbee said. "I gotta go back to the drawing board and figure out what it is with this team."
The loss snapped a six-game Central Michigan win streak. CMU dropped to 10-5 in MAC play and 16-11 overall. The Chippewas are still in third place, tied with Ohio at 10-5, one-game behind second-place Toledo (11-4) and two games behind Akron (12-3).
With 37 seconds left on the clock, CMU sophomore guard Paul McMillan IV brought the Chippewas to within five points on a corner 3-point shot, which gave him a team-high 25 points. It was the closest CMU came to the lead in the second half after trailing by as many as 18.
The spotlight was on McMillan IV all night, who shot a blistering 10-for-14 from the floor. However, he was not satisfied with the ultimate result for a team with its eyes on postseason play.
"First and foremost, I just wanted to get the win," he said. "We dropped the one at Miami a couple days ago. Coming home for a home game, it's been a long time since we've lost at home. So first I just wanted to come off and get the win."
Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee believes that the style of play his team has adopted this season, predicated around tough defense and hustle, has been somewhat missing the past few games.
"Our defense was poor," Barbee said. "It's been poor for two straight games now. It's been our calling card. It's been our staple and we've lost sight of that. We think it's something other than our defense and our toughness that has got us in the position that we're in. And now we've lost sight of our calling card, our staple, our identity, which is our defensive toughness and our toughness on the glass. It's (now) two games in a row that we've gotten bullied in those two areas."
Both teams enjoyed hot shooting nights from behind the 3-point line. The Chippewas converted 10-for-25 (40%) from long range, which was just edged out by Ball State's 10-for-23 (43.5%) performance.
Overall, CMU made 41.7% of its shots while the Cardinals converted on 49.1%.
The Chippewas started the game off hot, building their biggest lead of the night seven minutes into the contest on a layup from McMillan IV that gave them a 17-11 advantage. To that point, they had made seven of their 11 shots, and two of their three 3-point shots.
Ball State built its largest lead of the game, 18 points (58-40) with 13:08 to go on a Jalin Anderson jumper. Mickey Pearson, Jr. led the Cardinals with 25 points, Davion Bailey finished with 18, Anderson scored 14, and Basheer Jihad had 13.
In the second half, CMU was outscored by just one point as they fought to the final whistle. During the period, the Chippewas edged out the Cardinals in 3-point shots (6) and free throws (10) and registered an assist on eight of their 12 made field goals.
Central Michigan played without starting point guard Anthony Pritchard. Graduate guard Brian Taylor chipped in seven points on the night, which gives him 999 points as a Chippewa. One shy of 1,000, he'll look to reach the big milestone on Saturday (Mar. 2) when CMU travels to Kent State. Junior guard Derrick Butler added 16 of his own points. He didn't have a banner day shooting (3-for-13 from the floor), but did his damage via the free throw line, making a career-best 8-of-9.
The Chippewas have three remaining regular season games, with matchups against Kent State, Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan.
"We've got to find a way," Barbee said. "I gotta go back to the drawing board and figure out what it is with this team."
Team Stats
BSU
CMU
FG%
.491
.417
3FG%
.435
.400
FT%
.813
.733
RB
37
30
TO
13
14
STL
6
5
Game Leaders
Pts
25
FGM
10
3FGM
4
FTM
1
Pts
16
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
8
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
7
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
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