Central Michigan University
Miami (Oh)
Solid 'D' Lifts CMU Past Miami
1/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
OXFORD, Ohio - Because of its prodigious 3-point shooting, the Central Michigan men's basketball team had been tagged with the moniker, 3MU.
How about DMU?
Central Michigan put the clamps on Miami (Ohio) Tuesday, holding the RedHawks to 36.8 percent shooting in posting a 68-51 Mid-American Conference win at Miami's Millett Hall.
It was CMU's second-straight win and its second-straight outstanding defensive performance, lifting it to 11-9, 4-3 MAC. The Chippewas play host to Bowling Green on Saturday at McGuirk Arena (4:30 p.m.). The Falcons (13-7, 4-3) won, 79-78, at Western Michigan on Tuesday. CMU won at Bowling Green, 79-67, on Jan. 9.
Miami (6-14, 0-7) made six of its first nine 3-point attempts and was within three, 35-32, at halftime. The Chippewas outscored the RedHawks, 33-19, in the final 20 minutes to win going away. Miami made just one of its eight second-half 3-point tries.
"Great defensive effort," said CMU coach Keno Davis, whose team silenced Ohio last Saturday, 72-49. "I thought early we didn't have quite as much energy as we needed and you've got to give credit to Miami of Ohio, they made those early 3s which spread us out which created more offensive for them.
"I thought our guys came out of the locker room in that second half, felt pretty confident about what they needed to do and obviously played pretty well doing it."
It was CMU's first win at Miami since Feb. 27, 1991, a stretch of 14 consecutive games. It also marked the first time that CMU - which defeated Miami in their only meeting last season - has won back-to-back games over the RedHawks since 1987-88.
"That's a long streak," said Davis, who last season led CMU to its first regular-season MAC championship in more than a decade. "That's a good one to get out of the way. Any time that you're trying to build a program and you can do something that hasn't been done for awhile, whether it's winning seasons or (making the) post-season or playing in the (league) championship - whatever it is, those things are not only nice to be able to enjoy as a team and for our fans to be able to enjoy, but really important going forward for us.
"It's a credit to those (CMU) guys. It's such a great story. These guys were unheralded coming out of high school, undervalued, under-recruited. They went through the growing pains that Central Michigan fans have gone through for quite a few years. They went through it themselves. If we win these guys are celebrating, they're enjoying it, they're loving every minute of it. It's truly a great group to have the privilege to coach."
Chris Fowler scored 21 points and dished our nine assists (against just two turnovers) to lead the Chippewas, while Braylon Rayson added 14 points and Rayshawn Simmons had 12.
Fowler made all 11 of his free throw attempts as the Chippewas finished 18-for-20 from the line.
Rayson, a junior guard, hit a jumper with 3 minutes, 41 seconds remaining to put him over the 1,000-career-point mark. He became the 31st player in program history to accomplish the feat, and he is the third current Chippewa (Fowler and John Simons are the others) in the club.
CMU is one of just three NCAA Division I teams with three 1,000-point scorers on its current roster.
Miami, playing without leading scorer Eric Washington, got 13 points from Rob Mills and 10 from Geovanie McKnight.
The Chippewas used two second-half runs to put the game away.
Leading 35-34, the Chippewas went on a 15-2 surge to up their lead to 14, 50-36, with just under 14 minutes to play. Rayshawn Simmons started the spurt with a pair of free throws, and Fowler closed it with a three-point play.
With the lead at seven, 52-45, and less than 10 minutes remaining, Rayson hit three field goals, one of which was a 3-pointer, during a 9-0 surge that left CMU up 16, 61-45, with just under 8 minutes to play.
Miami never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.
