Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Record crowd. An oh-so-memorable comeback. A final dramatic shot. Against the arch-rival.
It doesn’t get much sweeter than that for the Central Michigan Chippewas.
Marcus Keene drilled a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining on Friday as Central Michigan rallied from an 18-point deficit to top Western Michigan, 86-82, in front of a McGuirk Arena-record crowd of 5,412.
The win, which . . .
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Record crowd. An oh-so-memorable comeback. A final dramatic shot. Against the arch-rival.
It doesn’t get much sweeter than that for the Central Michigan Chippewas.
Marcus Keene drilled a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining on Friday as Central Michigan rallied from an 18-point deficit to top Western Michigan, 86-82, in front of a McGuirk Arena-record crowd of 5,412.
The win, which . . .
. . . lifted the Chippewas to 15-8, 5-5 Mid-American Conference, snapped a three-game losing streak against Western (7-15, 3-7). It was just the Chippewas’ second win in their last nine games against their rivals from Kalamazoo.
“It’s a great feeling,” CMU senior guard Braylon Rayson said. “Shoutout to our fans and the student section that came out to watch us. I think they’re a part of this win too. They stayed with us the whole game, and we ended up getting a ‘W’ for them.”
“It’s a great feeling,” CMU senior guard Braylon Rayson said. “Shoutout to our fans and the student section that came out to watch us. I think they’re a part of this win too. They stayed with us the whole game, and we ended up getting a ‘W’ for them.”
Keene scored 35 points, Rayson added 20, and DaRohn Scott had a career-high 11 as the Chippewas mounted a one-for-the-ages comeback.
Western led 79-69 with under five minutes to play when the Chippewas made their move, going on a 14-4 run that ignited the over-capacity crowd and left the game tied at 81-81.
Western’s Tucker Haymond missed a 3-point try with 35 seconds left and CMU freshman David DiLeo rebounded, got the ball to Keene, and Keene dribbled down the clock to under 5 seconds.
Tightly guarded by Thomas Wilder, Keene launched a 3 that got nothing but net with 4.3 seconds remaining, putting the Chippewas in front and electrifying the crowd.
“It was one-on-one, me versus Wilder,” said Keene, a junior who had his 13th 30-point game of the season. “He had this look in his eyes like he was going to get a stop. I had this look in my eyes like it was going to be otherwise. I got to my shot where I was comfortable at and it went in.”
Wilder split two free throws with 3 seconds left to draw Western to 84-82. He purposely missed the second and CMU got the rebound. Rayson then made two pressure-packed free throws with 2 seconds remaining to ice it.
Keene scored 21 of his points and Rayson had 15 of his in the second half. They combined for seven 3-pointers, five of which came after halftime.
“Can’t say enough about the character of this team, but those two guys, Keene and Rayson, they’ve got as big a heart as any players that I’ve coached,” CMU coach Keno Davis said. “Those two guys have extreme confidence. They’re very talented, but the confidence is what makes them dangerous.”
The Chippewas trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half and were down, 53-40, at the break. CMU’s largest deficit, 18, 63-45, came with just over 16 minutes remaining and the deficit remained in double digits through much of the second half.
But Rayson caught fire just in time, hitting four free throws and knocking down two triples to pull the Chippewas even, 79-79, with just under three minutes to play. A Scott free throw with 2:12 to go put CMU in front for the first time, 80-79.
Scott, a 6-foot-9 ½ junior, came off the bench to log a season-high 24 minutes and led CMU with seven rebounds. He made all four of his field goal attempts and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line before fouling out with 1:07 left.
“We don’t win the game without DaRohn,” Davis said. “I credit our guys for continuing to keep their head on straight when everything went wrong early in the game. (Western) hit every shot, we missed every shot.
“We still kept feeling that the game was never out of reach. That we could press with our scoring and our running and fortunately we had enough at the end.”
Wilder, a junior guard, led the Broncos with 21 points. Joining him in double figures were Tucker Haymond (16), Brandon Johnson (15) and Regie Jones (13).
Western made 67.6 percent of its field goal attempts, including 7-of-11 3-point tries, in the first half. CMU held the Broncos to 2-of-12 from long range in the second half.
Western led 79-69 with under five minutes to play when the Chippewas made their move, going on a 14-4 run that ignited the over-capacity crowd and left the game tied at 81-81.
Western’s Tucker Haymond missed a 3-point try with 35 seconds left and CMU freshman David DiLeo rebounded, got the ball to Keene, and Keene dribbled down the clock to under 5 seconds.
Tightly guarded by Thomas Wilder, Keene launched a 3 that got nothing but net with 4.3 seconds remaining, putting the Chippewas in front and electrifying the crowd.
“It was one-on-one, me versus Wilder,” said Keene, a junior who had his 13th 30-point game of the season. “He had this look in his eyes like he was going to get a stop. I had this look in my eyes like it was going to be otherwise. I got to my shot where I was comfortable at and it went in.”
Wilder split two free throws with 3 seconds left to draw Western to 84-82. He purposely missed the second and CMU got the rebound. Rayson then made two pressure-packed free throws with 2 seconds remaining to ice it.
Keene scored 21 of his points and Rayson had 15 of his in the second half. They combined for seven 3-pointers, five of which came after halftime.
“Can’t say enough about the character of this team, but those two guys, Keene and Rayson, they’ve got as big a heart as any players that I’ve coached,” CMU coach Keno Davis said. “Those two guys have extreme confidence. They’re very talented, but the confidence is what makes them dangerous.”
The Chippewas trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half and were down, 53-40, at the break. CMU’s largest deficit, 18, 63-45, came with just over 16 minutes remaining and the deficit remained in double digits through much of the second half.
But Rayson caught fire just in time, hitting four free throws and knocking down two triples to pull the Chippewas even, 79-79, with just under three minutes to play. A Scott free throw with 2:12 to go put CMU in front for the first time, 80-79.
Scott, a 6-foot-9 ½ junior, came off the bench to log a season-high 24 minutes and led CMU with seven rebounds. He made all four of his field goal attempts and was 3-for-4 from the free throw line before fouling out with 1:07 left.
“We don’t win the game without DaRohn,” Davis said. “I credit our guys for continuing to keep their head on straight when everything went wrong early in the game. (Western) hit every shot, we missed every shot.
“We still kept feeling that the game was never out of reach. That we could press with our scoring and our running and fortunately we had enough at the end.”
Wilder, a junior guard, led the Broncos with 21 points. Joining him in double figures were Tucker Haymond (16), Brandon Johnson (15) and Regie Jones (13).
Western made 67.6 percent of its field goal attempts, including 7-of-11 3-point tries, in the first half. CMU held the Broncos to 2-of-12 from long range in the second half.
RSS Feed