Men's Basketball Wins Fifth Straight, 77-76, in Double Overtime Over Bowling Green

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio—Playing without two injured starters, Central Michigan claimed its fifth consecutive game as Paul McMillan IV hit the game-winning basket with 11 seconds to go in double overtime and scored 19 points, Derrick Butler added 17, and Brian Taylor contributed 15 in leading the Chippewas to a gutsy 77-76 victory at Bowling Green Saturday evening at the Stroh Center.

With the victory, Central Michigan (13-9 overall) moves into a second-place tie with Toledo in the MAC standings with an 8-2 MAC record, one game behind first place Akron (9-1). The Chippewas have won eight of their last nine games, nine of their last 12, and two straight road contests. They have a four-game home win streak intact and improved to 11-0 when leading at halftime.

For the second straight game, CMU had to go to double overtime to get the win. After Bowling Green's Marcus Hill gave the Falcons a 76-75 lead with two free throws, McMillan IV beat his defender, drove to the basket and converted a layup with four seconds to play. Bowling Green had one last chance but missed a layup at the buzzer and the Chippewas had their fifth straight win.

And they did it without leading scorer and point guard Anthony Pritchard and starting center Markus Harding.

"This team believes in us," Central Michigan Head Coach Tony Barbee said. "No matter who's injured, we've got enough in this locker room. They put in the work to believe in each other. This team truly embodies what a team truly represents. How about Paul McMillan? He wasn't healthy today, he got dinged up, but boy, he played huge again. He's not afraid of the moment, he kept telling me, 'coach keep coming to me.'"

"These late game situations, we keep working on them, and we keep getting experience in these situations by being in those situations. We've had quite a few of them in the last six, seven games. That kind of experience breeds confidence to matter what the score, no matter the time, we're ready for anything that can happen, anything is possible. This team believes."

The Chippewas had to battle back to send the game into overtime, then erased a five-point deficit to send the game into a second overtime. In the first overtime, CMU found itself down 67-62 with 2:12 to play. But McMillan IV hit two free throw, hit a layup a minute later to cut the deficit to 68-66 with 49 seconds to play. After Cayden Vasko registered a steal, McMillan took it to the basket again and tied the contest at 68-68 with 17 seconds left. The Chippewas forced BG into a miss in the closing seconds.

In regulation, Central Michigan trailed by five points, 62-57 with 3:43 to play. The Chippewas held Bowling Green scoreless the rest of the way as McMillan hit a jumper, KJ Oduor contributed a free throw, and Brian Taylor's layup with 53 seconds to play proved to be the shot that sent the game into overtime.

"I'm just so blessed and fortunate with this opportunity to present itself," McMillan IV said. "With Pritch going down, it was time for me to step up. My teammates, coaches, they all trust me and have seen me do it before. I just wanted to come in, get the win for us, and keep the winning streak going. It's great to see all the hard work that paid off for all the guys. Tonight, we just had to make sure we stepped up. We've been low in numbers, we had to figure it out, stay together, fight through a little adversity, and keep going."

In the last two games, both double overtime victories for CMU, McMillan has led the Chippewas from the point guard position. He has averaged 20.0 points, 40.0 minutes, 4.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists per game, converted 12-33 field goals, and hit 14-15 free throws.

It's been a team effort. Tonight, Butler finished with 17 points on 6-10 shooting, Taylor scored 15 points, Oduor stepped in for Harding and grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and added five points, while Aidan Rubio added eight points and two key 3-pointers.

Central Michigan shot 50.8 percent (31-61) from the floor and outrebounded Bowling Green 52-37, but committed 16 turnovers and sent the Falcons to the free throw line 32 times (21 free throws. The Chippewas outscored the Falcons 44-32 in the paint, and the bench outscored the hosts 17-12.

Central Michigan came out firing. The Chippewas hit nine of their first 11 field goals (81 percent) and built a 19-14 lead at the 11:04 mark of the first half.

The Chippewas led the entire first half and used a 6-0 run to take a 35-27 lead with 1:43 to play in the first half before Bowling Green ended the half on a 5-0 run for a 35-32 halftime lead. CMU shot 66.7 percent (16-24) from the floor, outrebounded the hosts 16-10, and outscored the Falcons 24-10 in the paint.

Bowling Green took its first lead, 38-37, as it took advantage of back-to-back CMU turnovers with 18:20 to play. From then on it was a back-and-forth game the rest of the way.

Hill and Agee led Bowling Green (15-7 overall, 6-4 MAC) with 22 and 20 points respectively.

Central Michigan is back on the road Tuesday when it plays at first-place Akron. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Central Michigan's next home contest is on Saturday, Feb. 17 when it hosts Western Michigan for the Toilet Paper Toss.

—CMU—

Men's Basketball Wins Fifth Straight, 77-76, in Double Overtime Over Bowling Green

Next Event

Team Stats

Paul McMillan IV

Derrick Butler

Brian Taylor

Aidan Rubio

Players Mentioned

Derrick Butler

Markus Harding

Paul McMillan IV

KJ Oduor

Anthony Pritchard

Aidan Rubio

Brian Taylor

Cayden Vasko