Chippewas Win Second in a Row, 73-69 Over Buffalo

Tuesday, February 25

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

7:00 PM

Central Michigan University

13-15,6-9MAC

Buffalo

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Buffalo

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2/25/2025 10:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Jakobi Heady notches third double-double of the year with 18 points and 11 rebounds; Anthony Pritchard adds 18 points and six assists.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Jakobi Heady notched his third double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Anthony Pritchard finished with 18 points and six assists to lead the Central Michigan men's basketball team to a 73-69 win over Buffalo Tuesday at McGuirk Arena.

With the win, Central Michigan improves to 13-15 overall and 6-9 in the MAC. Buffalo drops to 8-20 overall and 3-12 in MAC play. The Chippewas won their first game of the season when trailing at halftime and improved to 1-9 in such contests. The victory also moved Central Michigan into a tie for ninth place in the MAC standings with three games remaining.

Next up for Central Michigan is a key road game at Eastern Michigan on CBS Sports Network on Friday at 6 p.m.

After trailing for the majority of the game and Buffalo leading by its largest margin of the game, eight points (50-42) with 11:13 to go, Central Michigan outscored the Bulls 11-2 over a three-minute second half span to tie the game at 52-52 with 8:22 to play on a Pritchard layup. Minutes later, the Chippewas finally took the lead at 57-55 when Cayden Vasko hit a 3-pointer.

From that point on, Central Michigan held off Buffalo the rest of the way for the win. The Bulls cut the deficit down to one point (68-67) on a Tyson Dunn 3-pointer with 1:32 to play, but Kyler VanderJagt answered with a free throw. Then after Buffalo missed a shot, VanderJagt drove to the basket for a key layup and commanding four point lead with 24 seconds to play.

"We could have let go of the rope at any point and we didn't," Central Michigan head coach Tony Barbee said. "We played desperate and started to play harder in those last 10 minutes. We found it. We played harder and more desperate than them. All you had to do is look at the floor burns. We were all over the floor, diving for loose balls, scrapping for rebounds, second chance points, Jakobi, doing what he did was huge for us, and also Kyler's layup when we had a two-point lead. We talk all the time about putting pressure on the rim in those moments. It was a huge bucket for him."

Jakobi Heady made 7-13 field goals and grabbed five offensive rebounds, Pritchard hit 7-8 free throws, Ugnius Jarusevicius scored 14 points (6-12 FG) and hit two 3-pointers, and VanderJagt finished with 12 big points.

Central Michigan shot 47.5 percent (28-59) from the floor and scored 21 points off Buffalo turnovers.

Buffalo used a 9-0 run to go up 30-24 at the 5:34 mark as Bryson Wilson scored all nine points in the run, including six free throws and a 3-pointer.

Trailing 35-28, the Chippewas went on a 6-0 run right before halftime. Quentin Heady scored on tipin and Pritchard hit four free throws, but Buffalo's Anquan Boldin Jr. swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 38-34 lead.

At halftime Barbee had a message for his team.

"We needed to play tougher," Barbee said. "Buffalo was playing hard, tougher, more physical. I told the team 'just because they're behind you in the standings and near the bottom of the standings, let's not get it mixed up.' That team has been scrapping, battling and fighting. I tried to warn them. I told them this was going to be a fight. The response is what matters. We needed to see what we're made of."

"Oogie is fighting a flu-bug and his energy is not real high, and he wasn't playing his best, but we still found a way, which is huge for this team."

Off the bench, Wilson finished with a game-high 22 points (6-13 FG) and hit 8-8 free throws to lead Buffalo. Ryan Sabol added 11 points and three 3-pointers, and Anquan Boldin Jr. contributed 10 points.

The win avenged a 75-69 loss at Buffalo on Jan. 28 and snapped a three-game losing streak to the Bulls. Buffalo entered the game after winning 15 of the last 16 games.

Central Michigan started Pritchard, Vasko, Jarusevicius, Jakobi Heady and VanderJagt.

One home game remains for Central Michigan: Northern Illinois (Friday, March 7). 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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Team Stats

Game Leaders

Jakobi Heady

Anthony Pritchard

Ugnius Jarusevicius

Kyler VanderJagt

Players Mentioned