MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Austin Keel came off the bench to score a career-high 18 points on 6-of-6 shooting Friday as the Central Michigan Chippewas followed up their victory over Northwestern with a 97-60 win over NAIA Concordia at McGuirk Arena.
The win, CMU's third straight, lifted the Chippewas to 8-1. They play a non-leaguer at McNeese State on Monday before taking a 10-day break.
Forty-eight hours after claiming their first win since 2007 over a Big Ten opponent, the Chippewas showed no signs that they were still reveling in that feat.
The win, CMU's third straight, lifted the Chippewas to 8-1. They play a non-leaguer at McNeese State on Monday before taking a 10-day break.
Forty-eight hours after claiming their first win since 2007 over a Big Ten opponent, the Chippewas showed no signs that they were still reveling in that feat.
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Concordia made four of its first five three-point attempts in taking an early 15-10 lead. But after that, it was all CMU.
"I might feel differently after watching tape, but I think I just give (Concordia) credit," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "It was like watching a mirror image of us tonight in that there were shooters all over the court with long range who can put it on the floor. I saw that same look in our eyes that Northwestern had against us: `How do you guard that?'
"I think it was a good game for us to be able to find some weaknesses in what we do defensively and to be able to experience it is only going to help us the next time that we go against a team that has that kind of perimeter shooting and focus."
The Chippewas figured it out in plenty of time. They used a 17-0 run to turn that 15-10 deficit into a 27-15 lead with under eight minutes to play in the first half.
CMU then turned hit the afterburners, outscoring the Cardinals, 22-6, over the final 5:43 of the half for a 51-28 advantage at the break.
Concordia managed to trim its deficit to 13 with under 15 minutes remaining, but the Chippewas flexed their depth and won going away - extending their lead to as many as 37 points in the second half.
Rayshawn Simmons added 15 points and Josh Kozinski had 12 - matching his career-high - as eight Chippewas scored at least seven points and 10 logged double-digit minutes.
Guard Braylon Rayson finished with a team-high eight rebounds for the Chippewas, who outrebounded the Cardinals, 47-27.
"I'm not going to say we came out as pumped as we did against Northwestern, but we came out like, ‘We need another win,’ and we got a win," Rayson said, adding that the balanced scoring is indicative of the Chippewas' depth.
"It shows that any night anybody can go off. We never know who's going to come out of the game our leading scorer. We go out there, we share the ball, we play together, we stay together."
Stewart said that while the win over Northwestern was memorable, it was time to put that behind the Chippewas when they tipped off against Concordia.
"After the Northwestern game, you could understand the excitement we would have," Stewart said. "Coach always stresses next game, next game, next game. We can't live in the past. So that's what we tried to do (tonight)."
Keel, the lone senior on the CMU roster, eclipsed the career best 17 points he posted against Texas State on Dec. 17, 2012.
"Austin Keel is a young man who has really been improving as a player since I arrived here," said Davis, who is in his third year as the Chippewas' coach.
"We've also improved as a team. So he went from somebody that might have had his minutes cut from what he had hoped they would be, but that doesn't mean he hasn't improved as a player.
"And he really gives us depth at the guard position because there's times out there where he's as good as anybody. A lot of it's because of his veteran knowledge, his experience to have been through a lot of road trips, a lot of games, a lot of situations. It's nice to be able to have him part of the program."
Josh Fugate scored 19 points to lead Concordia.
(Courtesy of CMU Athletics/MRO Edit)
"I might feel differently after watching tape, but I think I just give (Concordia) credit," CMU coach Keno Davis said. "It was like watching a mirror image of us tonight in that there were shooters all over the court with long range who can put it on the floor. I saw that same look in our eyes that Northwestern had against us: `How do you guard that?'
"I think it was a good game for us to be able to find some weaknesses in what we do defensively and to be able to experience it is only going to help us the next time that we go against a team that has that kind of perimeter shooting and focus."
The Chippewas figured it out in plenty of time. They used a 17-0 run to turn that 15-10 deficit into a 27-15 lead with under eight minutes to play in the first half.
CMU then turned hit the afterburners, outscoring the Cardinals, 22-6, over the final 5:43 of the half for a 51-28 advantage at the break.
Concordia managed to trim its deficit to 13 with under 15 minutes remaining, but the Chippewas flexed their depth and won going away - extending their lead to as many as 37 points in the second half.
Rayshawn Simmons added 15 points and Josh Kozinski had 12 - matching his career-high - as eight Chippewas scored at least seven points and 10 logged double-digit minutes.
Guard Braylon Rayson finished with a team-high eight rebounds for the Chippewas, who outrebounded the Cardinals, 47-27.
"I'm not going to say we came out as pumped as we did against Northwestern, but we came out like, ‘We need another win,’ and we got a win," Rayson said, adding that the balanced scoring is indicative of the Chippewas' depth.
"It shows that any night anybody can go off. We never know who's going to come out of the game our leading scorer. We go out there, we share the ball, we play together, we stay together."
Stewart said that while the win over Northwestern was memorable, it was time to put that behind the Chippewas when they tipped off against Concordia.
"After the Northwestern game, you could understand the excitement we would have," Stewart said. "Coach always stresses next game, next game, next game. We can't live in the past. So that's what we tried to do (tonight)."
Keel, the lone senior on the CMU roster, eclipsed the career best 17 points he posted against Texas State on Dec. 17, 2012.
"Austin Keel is a young man who has really been improving as a player since I arrived here," said Davis, who is in his third year as the Chippewas' coach.
"We've also improved as a team. So he went from somebody that might have had his minutes cut from what he had hoped they would be, but that doesn't mean he hasn't improved as a player.
"And he really gives us depth at the guard position because there's times out there where he's as good as anybody. A lot of it's because of his veteran knowledge, his experience to have been through a lot of road trips, a lot of games, a lot of situations. It's nice to be able to have him part of the program."
Josh Fugate scored 19 points to lead Concordia.
(Courtesy of CMU Athletics/MRO Edit)
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