Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Shawn Roundtree scored 20 points and dished out six assists, while Cecil Williams added 16 points on Wednesday as Central Michigan downed Sam Houston State, 71-60, in the Chippewas’ opening game at the Great Alaska Shootout at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Chippewas will play . . .
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Shawn Roundtree scored 20 points and dished out six assists, while Cecil Williams added 16 points on Wednesday as Central Michigan downed Sam Houston State, 71-60, in the Chippewas’ opening game at the Great Alaska Shootout at Alaska Airlines Arena.
The Chippewas will play . . .
. . . Cal Poly on Friday (9:30 p.m. EST) in a second-round game. The winner plays on Saturday in the title game of the 40th and final Great Alaska Shootout. Cal Poly (3-2) downed College of Charleston, 73-68, in its opener on Wednesday.
The Chippewas (3-1) hit 37.9 percent (11 of 29) of their 3-point attempts against the Bearkats and finished with a 34-29 rebounding advantage. David DiLeo, who scored nine points, led the Chippewas with 11 rebounds.
CMU never trailed and bumped its lead to double digits, 21-10, less than eight minutes after the opening tip on a Matt Beachler 3-pointer. CMU led, 42-30, at halftime, and Sam Houston State (2-2) never got closer than 11 points in the second half.
The Chippewas finished 16 of 18 from the free throw line, continuing their torrid start to the season at the charity stripe. CMU entered the game as the nation’s most prolific free-throw shooting team (85.2 percent). CMU made all seven of its free throw tries over the final 7:58 to keep the Bearkats at bay.
“Credit our guys for understanding what they needed to do,” CMU coach Keno Davis said. “As we cut down on our turnovers in the future I think we’ll get to the line even more.”
Jamal Williams scored 14 points to lead Sam Houston State. The Chippewas held the Bearkats to 40.3 percent shooting overall including 23.3 percent from 3-point range.
“We’re working hard, we have a lot of breakdowns in what we do, but it’s night and day from what we had last year and not just the makeup of the team,” Davis said.
“Our guys, they want to play D. They want to work and we’ve got some guys who might become really good defensively. To hold a team to a team to 40 percent from the field, 23 percent from the three … We’ve been cautiously optimistic – it’s a phrase I’ve used a lot this year.”
Roundtree finished 5-for-13 from the field and made eight of his nine free throw attempts. His six assists were a season high.
“I like the ball in his hands,” Davis said of Roundtree, a junior transfer in his first season at CMU. “We’ve had players like that at CMU in the recent past and you watch and the ball ends up in their hands, and the ball ends up in their hands because they make the right play and they make the right play more often than not.”
In Cal Poly, the Chippewas will encounter an opponent that plays “a lot like we play, except that they’re more patient,” Davis said. “We’ve got to be able to not only force the tempo with what we do, but we’ve got to be able to win games in different playing styles.”
The Mustangs entered the Shootout making 44.8 percent of their 3-point attempts, which ranks 12th nationally.
CMU never trailed and bumped its lead to double digits, 21-10, less than eight minutes after the opening tip on a Matt Beachler 3-pointer. CMU led, 42-30, at halftime, and Sam Houston State (2-2) never got closer than 11 points in the second half.
The Chippewas finished 16 of 18 from the free throw line, continuing their torrid start to the season at the charity stripe. CMU entered the game as the nation’s most prolific free-throw shooting team (85.2 percent). CMU made all seven of its free throw tries over the final 7:58 to keep the Bearkats at bay.
“Credit our guys for understanding what they needed to do,” CMU coach Keno Davis said. “As we cut down on our turnovers in the future I think we’ll get to the line even more.”
Jamal Williams scored 14 points to lead Sam Houston State. The Chippewas held the Bearkats to 40.3 percent shooting overall including 23.3 percent from 3-point range.
“We’re working hard, we have a lot of breakdowns in what we do, but it’s night and day from what we had last year and not just the makeup of the team,” Davis said.
“Our guys, they want to play D. They want to work and we’ve got some guys who might become really good defensively. To hold a team to a team to 40 percent from the field, 23 percent from the three … We’ve been cautiously optimistic – it’s a phrase I’ve used a lot this year.”
Roundtree finished 5-for-13 from the field and made eight of his nine free throw attempts. His six assists were a season high.
“I like the ball in his hands,” Davis said of Roundtree, a junior transfer in his first season at CMU. “We’ve had players like that at CMU in the recent past and you watch and the ball ends up in their hands, and the ball ends up in their hands because they make the right play and they make the right play more often than not.”
In Cal Poly, the Chippewas will encounter an opponent that plays “a lot like we play, except that they’re more patient,” Davis said. “We’ve got to be able to not only force the tempo with what we do, but we’ve got to be able to win games in different playing styles.”
The Mustangs entered the Shootout making 44.8 percent of their 3-point attempts, which ranks 12th nationally.
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