Central Michigan snapped a nine-game losing streak on Friday, topping rival Western Michigan, 85-68, in the regular-season finale on Senior Night at McGuirk Arena.
It was CMU's sixth-consecutive win over Western.
The Chippewas are 14-17, 7-11 MAC and will . . .
The winner heads to Cleveland for a quarterfinal game against top-seeded Akron on Thursday, March 12.
CMU fell to Ohio 77-69 in Athens on Feb. 18.
How It Happened
The Chippewas went on a 14-0 run, which began and ended with senior David DiLeo 3-pointers. Dallas Morgan also hit two triples in the surge, after which CMU led by 19, 65-46, with under 11 minutes to play.
Western Michigan crept within 12, 71-59, with under seven minutes to play, but CMU slammed the door with a 9-2 spurt, re-upping its lead to 19, 80-61.
"I feel like we have so many shooters on our team," Morgan said. "Once a guy gets going, that gets everyone else in rhythm. I know once I saw Dave's (first) shot go in, the crowd, and the energy put me in the rhythm right away. A couple of possessions later, I hit a shot, and it just trickled down.
"I feel like once one person gets going, it's like a domino effect. I feel like everybody feeds off that type of energy."
Team Stats
After making just two of their 10 3-point attempts in the first half, the Chippewas caught fire from long range in the final 20 minutes, making nine of their 16.
CMU, which outscored the Broncos 52-39 in the second half, held Western to four triples on 14 attempts.
The Chippewas totaled 17 assists, tied for their fourth highest of the season and the most they have collected in a MAC game this season.
Leaders
Morgan led CMU with 20 points, while DiLeo and Rob Montgomery added 16 each. All three are seniors who were playing their final game at McGuirk.
DiLeo led CMU in rebounds with eight. Deschon Winston led CMU in assists and tied a career high with six.
Michael Flowers hit 7-of-14 from the field and totaled 17 points to lead WMU. Brandon Johnson netted 15, while Rafael Cruz Jr. added 10 points.