Central Michigan's veteran guard duo of Shawn Roundtree Jr. and Larry Austin Jr. made the plays down the stretch on Wednesday as the Chippewas . . .
The win was CMU's third straight as the Chippewas improved to 9-2. They play host to Jackson State on Saturday (1 p.m.). UMKC is 4-9.
"I liked that in a game that had a lot to it, we were able to keep our composure and make enough plays down the stretch and get an important win," CMU coach Keno Davis said.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Roundtree hit three 3-pointers during a 13-2 game-deciding run that began with just over 10 minutes remaining.
Roundtree started the surge with a triple, breaking a 51-51 tie, with 10:09 to play. He hit another trey less than a minute later and then capped the two-minute spurt with his third three, putting the Chippewas up, 64-53.
"Once we started getting going everyone was feeding off each other," Roundtree said. "Once I saw the first one go in, it was on. It was just a matter of staying aggressive. Everyone on our team has the ability to go off at any moment. I'm just fortunate they went in."
UMKC crept to within five points three times in the final 2:22, but the Chippewas – specifically Roundtree and Austin – answered every time, either with free throws or by scoring on a drive.
"Late in the game you have a pretty good comfort level as a coach to have two veteran senior leaders out there handling the ball," Davis said.
LEADERS
Roundtree finished with 22 points, while Austin had 20 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Austin also had five assists. The duo combined to score 30 points in the second half, when the Chippewas outscored UMKC, 48-37, after trailing 35-33 at halftime.
Xavier Bishop scored 19 points and Rob Whitfield added 17 for UMKC.
FRIENDLY GRUDGE MATCH
Austin, who hails from Springfield, Ill., was playing with some added incentive. He and Bishop were teammates for two years at Lanphier High School.
"He's a really good player," Austin said of Bishop, who was two years behind Austin at Lanphier. "He led us in a lot of (high school) games. We're real close. We've got a group message every day. He's like my little brother. There was a little more emotion out there. He wanted to win for his team, I wanted to win for my team.
"At the end of the day, I play for Central Michigan. I don't play here by myself. If I wanted to play an individual sport, I'd go play tennis or golf. We just came out here, got the win as a team."
It was Austin's second double-double in three games. He had 24 points and 11 boards in CMU's 100-94 triple-overtime win at Youngstown State on Dec. 4. Wednesday's game was also the fifth consecutive in which Austin has finished with at least five assists.
BIG ON THE BOARDS
The Chippewas outrebounded UMKC, 44-31. It marked the second consecutive game that CMU has finished with more rebounds than its opponent. The Chippewas finished with 15 offensive boards to UMKC's nine.
"You talk about the effort, you see that on the offensive end," Davis said. "On the defensive end, it's effort, but it's also technique that we have to teach and get better at.
"That (rebounding) was the big unknown with this team coming into the year. We knew we would score, we kind of always have; we knew we were going to be much better defensively because of the personnel that we had. But where would we be rebounding? In a short sample size, these last two games, it's a big positive moving forward."
NEXT
Saturday's opponent, Jackson State, is 2-9. The Chippewas will then take eight days off before returning to the court to face Indiana South Bend at home on Dec. 30 in their final nonconference game of the season.