Central Michigan University Athletics
Saturday, January 18
DeKalb, Ill./Convocation Center
2:00 PM ET/1:00 PM CT
Central Michigan University
8-9,2-3MAC
71
at
66
Northern Illinois
4-13,0-5MAC
1
2
F
Central Mich.
35
36
71
NIU
29
37
66
Team Stats
CMU
NIU
FG%
.483
.426
3FG%
.429
.481
FT%
.636
.467
RB
44
26
TO
14
10
STL
7
6
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Sydney Kline '26 - @sydney.kline.photography
Chippewas Win Second Straight, Roll 71-66 at Northern Illinois
1/18/2025 4:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Jakobi Heady scores 16 points, Cayden Vasko registers a season-high 15 points, Chippewas go on 15-0 run in first half, hold off Northern Illinois the rest of the way for their second straight victory.
DEKALB, Ill.—Jakobi Heady (16 points) and Cayden Vasko (season-high 15 points) led four players in double-figure scoring and Central Michigan used a 15-0 first half run to take control, then fended off Northern Illinois the rest the way for its second consecutive win, 71-66, on Saturday at the NIU Convocation Center. With the win, Central Michigan improves to 2-3 in the MAC and 8-9 overall, while Northern Illinois drops to 0-5 in the MAC and 4-13 overall.
On a two-game win streak, Central Michigan looks forward to next week when it hosts Ball State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and then rival Western Michigan for the Toilet Paper Toss on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available for Toilet Paper Toss, but you must act soon. The Chippewas will now play four of their next five games at home and CMU is 4-2 at home this year and has won 11 of its last 14 contests in McGuirk Arena.
Trailing by 13 points, Central Michigan outscored Northern Illinois 19-2 over the last 8:22 of the first half. The rally gave the Chippewas a commanding 35-29 halftime lead that it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. Included in that was the 15-0 run that helped give the Chippewas control of the game. The run was fueled by Vasko's three 3-pointers. CMU's Bryan Ndjonga started the run with a jumper, Vasko followed with a 3-pointer, Kyler VanderJagt hit a jumper, then Vasko threw down another 3-pointer, Ndjonga scored on a layup, and Vasko gave CMU the lead 29-27 with his third 3-pointer of the game.
"That run at the end of the half was the difference today," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee said. "We were scrappy today. We played to the level of our competition or so to speak today. I thought we came out sluggish; we're looking at their record, looking at their stats and weren't as intense as we were the last game, which got us over the hump. No team is good enough to do that and we're definitely not good enough to do that."
"But those guys found a way to pick each other up, found the intensity, found that appetite to hunt like we need in order to be successful."
Central Michigan overcame 13 3-pointers by Northern Illinois and a 22-point outing by Quaran McPherson. The Chippewas outrebounded NIU 44-26, including a season-high 16 offensive rebounds, shot 48.3 percent (29-60) from the floor, and had 18 assists on 29 field goals.
Heady converted 8-16 shots en route to his team-high 16 points and also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Vasko hit 3-3 3-pointers, all in the key first half run en route to 15 points and five assists. Kyle VanderJagt made several key offensive plays, hit 5-9 shots and 2-4 3-pointers and ended up with 13 points, and Anthony Pritchard finished with 13 points, a season-high nine assists, and six rebounds.
Central Michigan closed out the first half with a six-point lead (35-29) after outrebounding NIU 24-15.
Northern Illinois opened the game on fire as it hit eight of its first 11 3-point field goals through the game's first 11 minutes. The Huskies used an 8-0 run to take an early 14-9 lead at the first half's 13:44 mark. Minutes later, NIU went up 24-11 when James Dent converted a 4-point play and McPherson hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 10-0 run.
The Huskies took a 27-14 lead on another 3-pointer by Jayden Mott with 8:58 to play in the first half. That's when Central Michigan went on its 15-0 run.
"We just needed to play harder," Barbee said. "We got back to hunting. We were giving them one shot on each possession. We weren't good enough against the zone today, too many guys out there who weren't being threats. Someone has to finish. Part of that run was us missing shots. We had a lot of opportunities. We missed eight layups in the first half. We missed eight layups at the rim. Even with their hot start, if we make all the shots we should have made, we wouldn't have been down 13."
"Going on the road, you've got to find a way. They don't ask how, doesn't have to be pretty. They only ask, 'do you have more points than them?' and we did today."
The second half featured a back and forth game but Central Michigan led the entire way. The Chippewas went up by seven points (65-58) with 4:45 to play on a Cayden Vasko turnaround jumper and Bryan Ndjonga layup after receiving a pass from Kyler VanderJagt. Minutes later, Vasko scored on another key driving jumper for a 67-60 lead.
Northern Illinois missed five consecutive free throws in the game's last two minutes as CMU closed out the game with free throws and baskets of its own.
Central Michigan started Jakobi Heady, Quintin Heady, Vasko, Jarusevicius, and Pritchard for the second straight game.
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.
On a two-game win streak, Central Michigan looks forward to next week when it hosts Ball State on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and then rival Western Michigan for the Toilet Paper Toss on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available for Toilet Paper Toss, but you must act soon. The Chippewas will now play four of their next five games at home and CMU is 4-2 at home this year and has won 11 of its last 14 contests in McGuirk Arena.
Trailing by 13 points, Central Michigan outscored Northern Illinois 19-2 over the last 8:22 of the first half. The rally gave the Chippewas a commanding 35-29 halftime lead that it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the way. Included in that was the 15-0 run that helped give the Chippewas control of the game. The run was fueled by Vasko's three 3-pointers. CMU's Bryan Ndjonga started the run with a jumper, Vasko followed with a 3-pointer, Kyler VanderJagt hit a jumper, then Vasko threw down another 3-pointer, Ndjonga scored on a layup, and Vasko gave CMU the lead 29-27 with his third 3-pointer of the game.
"That run at the end of the half was the difference today," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee said. "We were scrappy today. We played to the level of our competition or so to speak today. I thought we came out sluggish; we're looking at their record, looking at their stats and weren't as intense as we were the last game, which got us over the hump. No team is good enough to do that and we're definitely not good enough to do that."
"But those guys found a way to pick each other up, found the intensity, found that appetite to hunt like we need in order to be successful."
Central Michigan overcame 13 3-pointers by Northern Illinois and a 22-point outing by Quaran McPherson. The Chippewas outrebounded NIU 44-26, including a season-high 16 offensive rebounds, shot 48.3 percent (29-60) from the floor, and had 18 assists on 29 field goals.
Heady converted 8-16 shots en route to his team-high 16 points and also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. Vasko hit 3-3 3-pointers, all in the key first half run en route to 15 points and five assists. Kyle VanderJagt made several key offensive plays, hit 5-9 shots and 2-4 3-pointers and ended up with 13 points, and Anthony Pritchard finished with 13 points, a season-high nine assists, and six rebounds.
Central Michigan closed out the first half with a six-point lead (35-29) after outrebounding NIU 24-15.
Northern Illinois opened the game on fire as it hit eight of its first 11 3-point field goals through the game's first 11 minutes. The Huskies used an 8-0 run to take an early 14-9 lead at the first half's 13:44 mark. Minutes later, NIU went up 24-11 when James Dent converted a 4-point play and McPherson hit back-to-back 3-pointers for a 10-0 run.
The Huskies took a 27-14 lead on another 3-pointer by Jayden Mott with 8:58 to play in the first half. That's when Central Michigan went on its 15-0 run.
"We just needed to play harder," Barbee said. "We got back to hunting. We were giving them one shot on each possession. We weren't good enough against the zone today, too many guys out there who weren't being threats. Someone has to finish. Part of that run was us missing shots. We had a lot of opportunities. We missed eight layups in the first half. We missed eight layups at the rim. Even with their hot start, if we make all the shots we should have made, we wouldn't have been down 13."
"Going on the road, you've got to find a way. They don't ask how, doesn't have to be pretty. They only ask, 'do you have more points than them?' and we did today."
The second half featured a back and forth game but Central Michigan led the entire way. The Chippewas went up by seven points (65-58) with 4:45 to play on a Cayden Vasko turnaround jumper and Bryan Ndjonga layup after receiving a pass from Kyler VanderJagt. Minutes later, Vasko scored on another key driving jumper for a 67-60 lead.
Northern Illinois missed five consecutive free throws in the game's last two minutes as CMU closed out the game with free throws and baskets of its own.
Central Michigan started Jakobi Heady, Quintin Heady, Vasko, Jarusevicius, and Pritchard for the second straight game.
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—
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