Chippewas Claim 73-52 Toilet Paper Toss Victory over Western Michigan

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7:00 PM

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Western Michigan

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Chippewas Claim 73-52 Toilet Paper Toss Victory over Western Michigan

1/25/2025 10:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Defense is key for Central Michigan as Chippewas limit Broncos to 32.2 percent shooting and 5-24 on 3-pointers; Jakobi Heady leads four Chippewas in double figures with 16 points; CMU draws sellout crowd of 5,361, the fourth-largest crowd in McGuirk Arena history.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Using suffocating defense, Central Michigan built a 14-point halftime lead then coasted to a 73-52 victory over Western Michigan in the third Toilet Paper Toss Saturday evening at McGuirk Arena. The game drew a sellout crowd of 5,361, which ranks as the fourth largest crowd in McGuirk Arena history.

Central Michigan (9-10, 3-4 MAC) held Western Michigan to 32.2 percent (19-59) shooting and the Broncos hit just 5-24 of their 3-point shots. The Chippewas also outscored WMU 36-22 in the paint and 21-6 in bench scoring.

Chippewa head coach Tony Barbee said his team's defense and game atmosphere were the key factors in the victory.

"We wanted to make it hard on Western Michigan tonight and capitalize off the crowd," Barbee said. "We wanted to get into our aggressive full-court defense and half-court defense. We wanted to put the pressure on and see if it would affect them. They're a good team. Winning on the road is hard in this league and now we've got to go back to them."

"It was a good win for us, another step in the right direction as we try to get healthy as quickly as possible and become the team we ultimately want to become."

Central Michigan won its third consecutive Toilet Paper Toss game against Western Michigan. It was the second straight year that it registered a 20-point victory over Western Michigan at home. Barbee was complimentary of the McGuirk Arena atmosphere.

"It's Western Michigan, your home crowd sets the environment, sets the tone," Barbee said. "It's a 10-point advantage with a normal crowd, but when the crowd is like it was tonight, it's a 20-point advantage. We won by 20 points. We've had the best crowds this year for every game than we did in each of the last several years. We need crowds like this for every game. We've got Bowling Green next Saturday, we need the same crowd."

"If it's the toilet paper that brings them out, I'll buy the toilet paper! We appreciate them, our fans have been fantastic, the Snake Pit has been fantastic, our student section has been great all year long. You just hope that the fans who came and took in that experience for the first time this year, will know the impact they had on the outcome of this game."

On the floor, four Chippewas reached double figure scoring. Jakobi Heady scored a game-high 16 points, his 17^th double figure scoring contest in 19 games this season. Kyler VanderJagt added 13 points, Cayden Vasko finished with 11 points and seven rebounds, and Bryan Ndjonga added 10 points and six rebounds. Anthony Pritchard finished with eight points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Western Michigan (5-14, 2-5 MAC) was led by Markhi Strickland's 14 points and Owen Lobsinger's 10 points and nine rebounds.

Central Michigan built a 34-23 halftime lead using suffocating defense as Western Michigan was held to its lowest scoring output in a half this season (23 points), was limited to 23.3 percent (7-30) field goal shooting, and converted just 2-12 on 3-pointers.

A 14-0 run gave CMU a commanding 23-11 first half lead. The Chippewas never trailed again after the run. VanderJagt put CMU up 12-11 with a 3-pointer at the 13:55 mark. Jakobi Heady hit two free throws, and a 3-pointer by Pritchard from the corner gave CMU a 17-11 lead with 12:01 in the first half. Then Pritchard found Quentin Heady for a layup, and VanderJagt finished off a fast break layup in traffic. Vasko scored on a driving layup and CMU led 23-11 with 9:23 to go in the first half.

Before halftime, Central Michigan used an 8-0 run to expand its lead to 15 points (31-16) with 4:17 to play in the first half. Pritchard scored on a tipin, Heady converted two free throws, then Pritchard found Ndjonga for a dunk that got the crowd involved. Heady followed with a driving layup for a 31-16 lead.

The second half featured more of the same for Central Michigan. Western Michigan cut the lead down to as few as 10 points (40-30 with 15:15 to play) but could get no closer.

The Chippewas went up by as many as 21 points (69-48) with 2:57 on a VanderJagt free throw.

For the second consecutive game, Ugnius Jarusevicius did not play. Central Michigan started Jakobi Heady, Quentin Heady, Bryan Ndjonga, Cayden Vasko, and Anthony Pritchard.

"Quentin and Bryan have both been incredible with Oogie out," Barbee said. "We use EGB statistics which measures how hard you play. Both Q and Bryan, the last two games, have been over an EGB per minute, which is very hard to do. That means those two guys are playing out of their minds, crazy hard. The way they played tonight, they surpassed that again. That stat has nothing to do with the boxscore, it's measures the little things that contribute to winning and all the little things add up. They have filled in admirably. When Oogie comes back, we don't need them to take a step back, we need them to keep doing what they're doing."

Central Michigan hits the road for a Tuesday, Jan. 28 game at Buffalo, then plays back-to-back home games on Saturday (vs. Bowling Green, 7 p.m.) and Tuesday, Feb. 4 (vs. Miami, Ohio, 7 p.m.)

—CMU—