Central Michigan University
Eastern Michigan
CMU Men Drop MAC Opener
1/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Keno Davis knows full well there is a long way to go in the college basketball season.
He also knows his team has some work to do.
Eastern Michigan made a scorching 65 percent of its 3-point attempts Wednesday in running past Davis' Central Michigan Chippewas, 99-80, at McGuirk Arena in the Mid-American Conference opener for both teams.
"Eighteen games -- lot of conference games," said Davis, whose team won the MAC regular-season title a year ago and was picked to win it this year in the preseason poll of media who cover the league.
Davis pointed to CMU's start in the league last season, when they stunned Toledo on the road, then lost by 18 at Ball State to begin 1-1 in conference play.
"Can we go to Bowling Green (on Saturday) and get a road win and be back on track of where were last year?" Davis said. "It's going to be important for us. But more importantly, can we get back to some of the things that have made us successful in the past and made us successful at times this season?"
The Chippewas, 7-7, simply couldn't match an Eagle team, 9-5, that made 13 of its 20 3-point tries (65 percent), and was 33-for-50 (66 percent) overall from the floor. Eastern entered the game shooting a MAC-worst 26.6 percent from 3-point range on the season.
"They were making some shots that they don't normally make, that they normally don't take, and we didn't respond real well," Davis said. "That's going to happen. Sometimes teams are going to make shots, sometimes you're not going to have your best game and that's just part of it, especially with college players versus guys who have been playing for a lot longer in the pros.
"We're going to learn from it and look forward knowing that this isn't the last game of the year."
Raven Lee scored a season-high 32 points, 25 of which came in the second half when Eastern pulled away. Three other Eagles - James Thompson, Jodan Price and Willie Mangum - added 19 points apiece. Lee and Price each went 5-of-7 from 3-point range.
The Chippewas made 11 of their 28 3-point attempts (39.3 percent).
Josh Kozinski tied his career high with six 3-pointers (on 12 attempts) and led CMU with 18 points. Braylon Rayson added 17 points, Chris Fowler and Rayshawn Simmons finished with 13 apiece, and Luke Meyer had 11.
The Eagles outrebounded the Chippewas, 36-25, and Thompson, a 6-foot-10 freshman, had 14 boards for his eighth double-double of the season.
"We have to give a lot of credit to Eastern Michigan for playing great on all areas of the game, offensively, defensively, rebounding," said Davis, whose team plays at Bowling Green (10-4, 1-0) on Saturday (2 p.m.). "And we also have to look within and say, 'How can we get better in a short amount of time so that we have a chance to bounce back?
"It's not a time for us to feel sorry for ourselves, it's time to get better and a time to make sure we get back to the practice court."
Eastern led, 60-58, then went on a 23-7 surge that started with a Lee jumper with 12 minutes, 55 seconds remaining, and ended on a Tim Bond bucket with 5:16 left. That left the Chippewas staring up at an 83-65 deficit and they never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.
