Chippewas Claim 82-63 Decision Over Eastern Michigan

Tuesday, January 14

Mount Pleasant

7:00 PM

Central Michigan University

Eastern Michigan

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1/14/2025 10:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Ugnius Jarusevicius scores a career-high 23 points, hits 11-15 free throws; CMU notches first MAC victory after forcing 17 turnovers.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Ugnius Jarusevicius scored a career-high 23 points, Anthony Pritchard scored a season-high 22 points, and Jakobi Heady added 18 points as Central Michigan turned 17 Eastern Michigan turnovers into 21 points as the Chippewas closed out an 82-63 men's basketball victory Tuesday night at McGuirk Arena.

The win was CMU's first MAC victory on the season as the Chippewas improve to 1-3 in the MAC and 7-9 overall. Eastern Michigan drops to 1-3 in the MAC and 7-9 overall. Next up for Central Michigan, the Chippewas travel to Northern Illinois for a Saturday, Jan. 18 game at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.

Jarusevicius hit 6-14 field goals and made a career-high 11-15 free throws in scoring his 23 points. Pritchard converted 9-17 field goals, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists. Heady, who was playing with a No. 32 jersey to honor his late sister Shannise who played basketball at Eastern Michigan and died in a tragic car crash, hit 6-10 field goals and 5-5 free throws for his 18 points.

It was Jarusevicius who Eastern Michigan struggled to contain in the post. He was fouled nine times.

"Oogie had a dominant game tonight," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee said. "In our locker room chat, we just thought he played okay. I don't think there's a big in this league who has the ability to dominate a game like he does. But he's got to believe it. It's not what I believe, it's what he believes. He's got to do the things I'm asking him to do: catching the ball in the post, playing closer to that rim, rebound the ball with two hands, then he's got to go to the line and instead of going 11 for 15, go 14 of 15. When we play through him, it makes everyone else's job easier."

Early in the second half, Central Michigan used a 13-0 run to push its lead to a commanding 51-36 with 14:06 to play. The Chippewas scored on three straight offensive rebound baskets to take a 45-36 lead with 16:18 to play. Pritchard started it with a tipin after getting fouled, Jarusevicius grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup, then Jarusevicius scored on a tipin. Then the Chippewas added a Jakobi Heady layup, a steal led to a Pritchard layup, then Heady grabbed an offensive rebound and converted jumper. Jarusevicius added a free throw for the 51-36 lead.

Another 6-0 CMU run gave CMU a 58-46 lead with 10:45 to play. Later, a 7-0 run pushed CMU's lead to 63-46 on a VanderJagt 3-pointer at the 9:50 mark. With the shot clock winding down, Pritchard banked in a 3-pointer for a 17-point lead (68-51) with 7:27 to play.

"Today we were better in winning time and understanding how you expand the lead," Barbee said. "We had a stretch there were we got it to 13, 14 points, and I talked about winning time, which was a little bit early in terms of a normal game. There were eight or nine minutes left and we were one foul away from the bonus. How do you put the game away? You put pressure on the rim and make them foul. Then you put it away at the foul line. After I said that, we just hoisted five 3-pointers and didn't make any of them. All of sudden, it goes from 13, 14, 15 all the way back to nine or eight points. After that, we got back to throwing the ball back inside to Oogie, we got back to offensive rebounding and driving to the rim, and back to the foul line. We got back to pressuring the rim."

The Chippewas contained EMU's Da'Sean Nelson, who finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Nelson came into the game averaging 22.7 points per game in EMU's three league games so far. Christian Henry added 14 points and Jalen Terry finished with 13.

In the first half, CMU forced EMU into 13 turnovers and finished with eight steals in building a 39-33 halftime lead.

Trailing 14-10, Central Michigan went on a 12-0 run to take a commanding 22-14 lead in the first half. Shaedon Simpson started the run with a 3-pointer, Bryan Ndjonga added a free throw, Kyler VanderJagt scored on a layup for CMU's first lead, Pritchard stole the ball and drove in for a layup, Jakobi Heady scored a layup and converted a 3-point play, and Jarusevicius added a free throw. EMU finally scored at the 7:50 mark on a Christian Henry jumper.

Two Jarusevicius free throws gave the Chippewas their largest first half lead, 31-22, with 5:07 to go in the first half.

But the Eagles chipped away at the lead and used a 6-0 run to cut it all the way down to one point, 34-33, with 1:23 left in the half. But Simpson registered a steal, and Pritchard drove to the basket and converted a layup, CMU forced another turnover and Damarion Bonds nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer for the 39-33 lead.

Quentin Heady started his first career game at power forward. CMU also started Jakobi Heady, Pritchard, Jarusevicius, and Vasko.

The Heady brothers, playing in front of their mother and a large group of family members from Illinois, honored their sister with the victory.

The Chippewas are back at it again on Saturday at Northern Illinois.

"We have to worry about us getting better," Barbee said. "We've got to get back to collective rebounding. We've got to continue for us to get more efficient on the offensive side of the ball."

CMU men's basketball season tickets and single game tickets are 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 are also on sale. For more information, click here.

—CMU—