Chippewas Roll Over Rival Western Michigan 83-70 on Senior Night

Saturday, February 21

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

5:00 PM

Central Michigan University

9-18,5-9MAC

Western Michigan

9-18,3-11MAC

Western Mich.

Central Mich.

Chippewas Host Rival Western Michigan for Senior Night on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Thursday, February 19

Video Feature: Nathan Claerbaut Makes Impact for Chippewas

Wednesday, February 18

Chippewas Fall at Eastern Michigan 66-54

Tuesday, February 17

Chippewas Travel to Eastern Michigan to Play the Eagles on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Sunday, February 15

Next Event

Kent State

Feb 24 (Tue)

7:00 PM

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Jaxson Whitaker

/ Men's Basketball

Photo by: Lauren Verellen '26 - @laurenverellen_photography

Photo by: Lauren Verellen

Chippewas Roll Over Rival Western Michigan 83-70 on Senior Night

2/21/2026 8:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Nathan Claerbaut registers double-double, sets a school-record with 11 blocked shots; Tamario Adley scores a game and career-high 25 points; Phat Phat Brooks scores 19 points; Chippewas take game two of the series against Western Michigan.

By: Greg Hotchkiss

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich.—Seniors Tamario Adley scored a game and career-high 25 points and Nathan Claerbaut registered a double-double with 12 points and a school-record 11 blocked shots as Central Michigan rolled to an 83-70 men's basketball victory over rival Western Michigan Saturday before 2,888 fans at McGuirk Arena.

Adley and Claerbaut, along with Logan McIntire and Nick Mullen are part of Central Michigan's four-member senior class that was honored in a pre-game ceremony. The victory gave Central Michigan its fifth straight win over Western Michigan at home. The Chippewas have now claimed five of the last six overall meetings vs. Western Michigan. With the win, CMU evened its series with Western Michigan as the Broncos claimed the two schools' first meeting, 77-65, on Jan. 24.

Adley's 25-point performance marked a season-high and his fifth 20-point performance of the year. He also set career-highs for free throws made (10), free throw attempts (14), grabbed six rebounds, and finished with a team-high four steals. His dunk on a steal off an alley-oop pass from Jaxson Whitaker sealed the game for Central Michigan.

Claerbaut set a school and McGuirk Arena record for blocked shots in a game with 11. With eight blocks, he had already tied the school record at halftime. The previous school record for blocked shots was eight held by two players, Dan Roundfield vs. Bowling Green on March 8, 1975 and Chris Kaman vs. Toledo, Jan. 22, 2003. He also set a McGuirk Arena record. The 11 blocks also tie for the most blocked shots in the game at the NCAA Division I level this year, tying Brown's N'famara Dabo (11). To put the achievement in perspective, Claerbaut ended up blocking 11 of Western Michigan's 60 field goal attempts and an incredible eight out of 35 field goal attempts in the first half (23 percent). It marked Claerbaut's fourth double-double of the season.

Claerbaut entered the game as the Mid-American Conference's blocks and blocked shots leader. He ranked No. 41 in the nation in both blocks and blocked shots per game.

Phat Phat Brooks also had an outstanding game as he scored 19 points, converted 9-10 free throws, and dished out a game-high five assists.

"Every game is equally important," Central Michigan coach Andy Bronkema said. "When you lose to a team, you try to make adjustments and play better. This is a healthy rivalry. Coach Stephens is a great man and a great coach. A lot of these guys know each other. This year it was a split. Each team won at home, some great crowds at both places. We made the adjustments we needed to, and tonight we came out with a victory. The crowd was great and the energy was really good, everyone made a big play and stepped up."

"Eleven blocks for Nate is a lot, he probably altered three or four more," Bronkema said. "A lot of the credit goes to our coaches, who put him in position to be there."

Bronkema also spoke about the performance of his two point guards, Adley and Brooks, who combined for 44 points, 12-20 shooting, 10 rebounds, 19-24 free throws, 14 fouls drawn, and seven steals.

"If you look at our lead guards and their performance tonight, being efficient, getting to the line, taking care of the basketball, and scoring," he said. "That's just what we expect them to do. Tonight, they both played really well. Tamario had a great game on senior night. Phat Phat is coming into his own and there's still more in there. To his credit, he's bought into it and stuck with it. You can see it coming. He just needed time on the floor and someone to believe in him because he's really talented."

Claerbaut (10 points and eight blocks) and Brooks (10 points), sparked the Chippewas in the first half as they built a 40-33 halftime lead. Central Michigan used a 9-0 run to take a 17-10 lead at the 11:01 mark. Adley scored on a layup, Mullen converted a fast break layup, a Brooks steal led to a layup, and Mullen banked in a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired.

Another 6-0 run fueled by a Claerbaut block pushed the Chippewas' lead to nine points, 23-14 at the 8:55 mark. Minutes later, an Adley 3-pointer gave CMU a 28-18 lead with 6:52 to play in the first half.

Western scored the last five points of the first half to cut CMU's lead down to seven points at the break.

In the second half, the Broncos cut the lead down to three points, but Central Michigan answered with a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 13 points (55-42) with 13:38 to play. Adley registered a steal, passed to Whitaker, who lobbed Adley a pass in the air for an alley-oop dunk. Brooks started the rally with a layup, followed by a Jalen Kampen 3-pointer, two Whitaker free throws, an Adley free throw and then the alley-oop dunk.

Adley snuck around the back and stole the ball, dribbled in to give CMU a 69-55 commanding lead with 6:14 to play. Two Keenan Garner free throws gave CMU its largest lead of the game, 16 points (79-63) with 1:29 to go.

As a team, the Chippewas finished the game with 12 blocked shots. The school record remains 13 set vs. UM-Dearborn on Dec. 9, 1995.

Four regular season games remain for Central Michigan (9-18, 5-9 MAC), including three on the road: at Kent State (Tuesday, 7 p.m.), at Buffalo (Saturday, Feb. 28, 2 p.m.), Akron (Tuesday, March 3), and at Ball State (Friday, March 6, 7 p.m.).

—CMU—