Akron Shoots 62 Percent in the Second Half, Defeats Chippewas 85-82

Saturday, February 15

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7:00 PM

Central Michigan University

11-14,4-8MAC

Akron

20-5,12-0MAC

Akron

Central Mich.

Central Michigan Announces Entire 2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule

Thursday, August 21

MAC SBC Challenge Men's Graphic for Header

Men's Basketball to Host Appalachian State in MAC-SBC Challenge

Tuesday, July 01

Men's Basketball Signee Keenan Garner to Compete with Under-19 German National Team at 2025 FIBA World Cup

Friday, June 27

Jimmy Booth Named Director of Men's Basketball Operations

Thursday, June 26

Next Event

Ohio

L, 82-84

Feb 18 (Tue)

7:00 PM

Box Score Recap CMU Game Notes (PDF)Full Game Book (PDF)Watch Live Listen Live Preview Live Stats

Full Schedule

Team Stats

CMU

FG%

.525

.415

3FG%

.278

.292

FT%

.783

.875

STL

Cayden Vasko

/ Men's Basketball

Photo by: Madison Davidson '25 - @_mld.jpeg

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

Akron Shoots 62 Percent in the Second Half, Defeats Chippewas 85-82

2/15/2025 10:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Full Game Book (PDF)Photo Gallery

Ugnius Jarusevicius registers his second consecutive 32-point, 10-rebound game, seventh double-double of the year; Anthony Pritchard surpasses the career 1,000-point milestone.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—For the second consecutive game, Central Michigan's Ugnius Jarusevicius scored a game-high 32 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds but it wasn't enough as first-place Akron shot 62 percent in the second half in defeating the host Chippewas 85-82 Saturday evening at McGuirk Arena.

With the win, Akron extended its streak to 13 wins, improved to a perfect 12-0 in MAC play and 20-5 overall. Central Michigan dropped to 11-14 overall and 4-8 in the MAC. Central Michigan has now lost four of its eight MAC games by three points or less.

Playing just seven players, Central Michigan battled and was in the game until the very end. The Chippewas trimmed a nine-point Akron lead down to two points (81-79) on a Bryan Ndjonga 3-pointer and a Jarusevicius basket with five seconds to play but had to foul and Akron's Shammah Scott hit two free throws to seal the win.

Akron shot 52.5 percent (31-59) for the game and 61.5 percent (16-26) in the second half. The Zips were held to just five 3-pointers after they scored 17 in the two team's first meeting. Nate Johnson led Akron with 18 points, Amani Lyles had 14 off the bench, Shammah Scott finished with 13, Isaiah Gray had 10, and James Okwonkwo scored 10 before fouling out.

Jarusevicius, who notched his second straight 30-10 game and had his seventh double-double of the season, converted 10 of 17 field goals, tied a career-high with three 3-pointers, and hit 9-10 free throws. He also finished with 32 points and 10 rebounds at Kent State on Tuesday. Anthony Pritchard finished with 15 points and six assists, Jakobi Heady added 13 points with seven rebounds, and Kyler VanderJagt had 12 points.

"Akron shoots 62 percent in the second half tonight," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee. "It was disappointing. We had a lead at halftime and the first few minutes of the second half, we come out and turn the ball over, they score. We get the ball again and turn the ball over again. They go right down the floor and score. We were up at halftime and then were down four by the first media timeout. The decision-making on offense and defense was pathetic."

"In the first half, we followed the game plan. We went into halftime with the lead. They flipped the script in the second half. We made mistakes, they didn't."

After trailing at halftime, Akron opened the second half on a 7-0 run and quickly went up 40-36 with 17:25 to play. The Zips outscored Central Michigan 14-4 over the second half's first five minutes. A tipin by Seth Wilson, Isaiah Gray jumper, Gray free throw and driving layup gave Akron the lead. Minutes later, the Zips extended its lead to 47-40 on a Shammah Scott 3-pointer.

Central Michigan crept back into the game but Akron answered again with a 7-0 run to go up 60-51, its largest lead of the game. Amani Lyles hit two free throws, Isaiah Gray dunked on a drive to the basket, Lyles got fouled and followed with two free throws and Nate Johnson added a free throw. Later a Shammah Scott alley-oop dunk off a pass from Tavari Johnson put Akron up 11 points, 64-53 with 9:16 to go.

The Zips held off the Chippewas the rest of the way, maintaining at least a six-point advantage until the final 16 seconds.

In the first half, Central Michigan seized the momentum as it scored 10 of the last 12 points of the half and took a 36-33 halftime lead. An 8-0 run gave the Chippewas the lead. CMU went up 33-31 on a Pritchard steal and layup, his 1,000 career points, then Jarusevicius hit his third 3-pointer of the half with three seconds to play before the buzzer.

The first half featured a back-and-forth, closely-contested contest. Akron used a 6-0 run to build a 31-25 lead at the 2:47 mark on back-to-back layups by Nate Johnson and Sharron Young on assists by Isaiah Gray and a James Okonkwo layup.

It was Central Michigan that came out firing 3-pointers as Jarusevicius and Pritchard hit 3-pointers and Jarusevicius converted a 3-pointer for a 9-4 lead just four minutes into the game.

"Oogie is a guy that's not completely healthy," Barbee said. "He's dealing with stuff. It talks to the kind of elite player that he is. He puts pressure on the other team. He's big, he's skilled, he's got touch, he's rebounding. The only thing we need from him is more a defensive presence at the rim. We just don't have that and our rim is exposed."

The Chippewas started Bryan Ndjonga, Ugnius Jarusevicius, Kyler VanderJagt, Cayden Vasko, and Anthony Pritchard.

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—

Central Michigan Announces Entire 2025-26 Men's Basketball Schedule

Thursday, August 21

Men's Basketball to Host Appalachian State in MAC-SBC Challenge

Tuesday, July 01

Men's Basketball Signee Keenan Garner to Compete with Under-19 German National Team at 2025 FIBA World Cup

Friday, June 27

Jimmy Booth Named Director of Men's Basketball Operations

Thursday, June 26

MBB Sign Video

Wednesday, July 23

MBB Insider - 6.13.25

Friday, June 13

Men's Basketball Summer Practice 1

Thursday, June 12

Men's Basketball Move-In Day

Friday, June 06

Related News

Next Event

Team Stats

Game Leaders

Ugnius Jarusevicius

Anthony Pritchard

Jakobi Heady

Kyler VanderJagt

Players Mentioned

Jakobi Heady

Ugnius Jarusevicius

Bryan Ndjonga

Anthony Pritchard

Kyler VanderJagt

Cayden Vasko

Akron Shoots 62 Percent in the Second Half, Defeats Chippewas 85-82

Related News

Related Videos