Men’s team closes its season with home loss
They almost did it again.
The shorthanded Central Michigan men’s basketball team trailed by 16 points in the second half Friday, then made a frantic comeback to tie the game late, only to succumb to Northern Illinois, 7974, in a Mid-american Conference game at Mcguirk Arena.
The Chippewas trailed by 17 on Tuesday and then rallied to upset league-champion Toledo.
Friday’s loss left the Chippewas 7-16 and they finished 3-13 MAC. CMU sits 10th in the MAC standings and its season is over unless the Chippewas get into the MAC Tournament, a development that could happen if teams in front of them in the standings are forced to opt out of the postseason because of COVID protocols.
Whether or not CMU gets the chance to play at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland next week, coach Keno Davis and his team can look back at the 202021 campaign as one of disappointment tempered by resiliency, soul searching, incredible effort and growth and perspective, byproducts of enduring a season unlike any other.
Challenging and proud? “100 percent on both,” said Davis, whose team started the season with one potential starter opting out from the get-go, another key frontcourt player opting out early in the season, a season-ending injury to another rotational player, and then the loss of two starters – the leading scorer and the starting point guard – and a 17-day Covid-related pause.
Still, the Chippewas hung in, much like they did on Friday against NIU when they found themselves down 51-36 with under 17 minutes to play, only to tie it at 72-all with a minute left.
“You’re faced with it every day of trying to motivate, trying to teach, and most importantly doing your best to try to keep these student-athletes safe in everything they do,” Davis said. “We found that out first-hand when guys get sick, that’s serious stuff. It’s not just with the elderly, it’s college students too. Putting things in perspective has been very important.
“This team might not have accomplished as much as they deserved or we thought they would, but really in my eyes a team really found themselves and figured out how to work, figured out how to come together as a team. Although we were short in numbers, I think that the attitude they had the entire year and the way they came together is quite commendable.”
Meikkel Murray, a junior in his first season at CMU, emerged as a budding star as the season progressed. He scored a career-high 30 points – 23 in the second half — against the Huskies, and his three-point play with 59 seconds left tied it.
Alas, it was not to be on this night. Trendon Hankerson hit a jumper with 48 second left to put NIU back on top, 74-72, and then a Tyler Cochran three-point play with 20 seconds left extended the Huskie lead to 77-72. Darius Bean hit two free throws with 7 seconds remaining to ice it.
Sophomore guard PJ Mitchell, one of several Chippewas who stepped into prominent roles as the roster numbers dwindled throughout the season, scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds, both career highs, against the Huskies.
The game was not unlike four of the five the Chippewas played since the pause. They can point with pride to the victory over Toledo, and to the fact that they went down to the wire in three close losses.
“We played our hearts out,” Murray said. “I feel like we can compete with anybody in the MAC and I think we showed that the past couple of weeks even though we’ve had starters out and COVID and a lot of interruptions during our season, we stayed grounded.
“We don’t regret anything because we went out there with 100 percent effort. Definitely a tough season, but I feel like we got closer and that’s the most important thing going into next year.”
Murray scored 24, 24 and 30 points in the Chippewas’ final three games, and he hit the game-winning bucket on Tuesday against Toledo.
“You’re talking about a young man that got 30 points tonight and he’s not nearly as good as he can be,” Davis said. “The sky’s the limit for him and for some other guys who are just starting to figure out how to play and if he can improve in the offseason you’re talking about an allconference player. But it’s not just him; there are other guys too.
“I think you see by watching some of these guys why we were so high on this year’s team going into the season of how successful we felt like we could be because some of these new guys really are talented.”
They’re also resilient, Davis said.
“People don’t even know what this team has been through. To be able to not only get to the end of the season, but more importantly to get there with as good of an attitude maybe of any team I’ve ever had.
“Sometimes even the teams that win championships and get on big winning streaks, you’ve got guys going their own way and they’re upset that they’re not getting more shots, or they’re upset that they’re not playing more, or getting more attention than they are.
“This group went from trying to find itself early in the year to a group at the end that really cared about winning, cared about their teammates, cared about everybody’s health. Those are the types of things that I don’t take lightly or take for granted. Really proud of this group. If anything. it’s just made me more of the belief that these were the right guys to bring into the program. Not because of their talent on the court, but because of their character when we faced adversity this year. … Couldn’t be prouder.”