MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - It didn't come easily. Nothing in March ever does.
Central Michigan outscored Bowling Green, 16-12, in overtime Monday while wrestling away an 81-77 victory in a first-round Mid-American Conference Tournament game before 1,910 at McGuirk Arena.
CMU (19-13) will play . . .
Justin Turner and Antwon Lillard scored 17 points apiece for Bowling Green. Demajeo Wiggins, Bowling Green's second-leading scorer, finished with three points on 1-of-9 shooting. Wiggins had a game-high 12 rebounds.
Meanwhile, five Chippewas scored in double figures: Cecil Williams tallied 18 points, Luke Meyer had 16, Shawn Roundtree Jr. had 15, Kevin McKay finished with 14, and David DiLeo had 12.
DiLeo led the Chippewas with 10 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, and McKay grabbed eight boards. Williams tied his career high with six assists, and he scored 11 of his points in overtime.
"It was a great team effort," said CMU's Josh Kozinski, one of four seniors who played his final game at McGuirk. "We know everyone on this team can get going and Cecil had the hot hand (in overtime), so we fed him."
Kozinski, along with Meyer, Williams and John McCartywere part of senior night ceremonies made possible by a win over Western Michigan in last Saturday’s off campus game. Friday’s scheduled Senior Night was scrapped due to Friday’s on-campus shooting incident.
"With the adversity we faced in the Western game, knowing we had to win that game in order to get a home game, it put a little bit more of a chip on our shoulder during it," Meyer said. "Then being able to say goodbye to the fans as we should is a really good feeling.”
CMU opened the overtime with a 7-0 run to seize a 72-65 lead midway through the five-minute extra session. Bowling Green trimmed CMU's lead to three, 77-74, with under 20 seconds remaining. Williams hit two free throws with 17 seconds left, and McKay iced it with a pair of charity tosses with 5 seconds to go.
The Chippewas made nine of their 10 free throw attempts in overtime. CMU entered the game second in the nation in free throw shooting (80.8 percent) and finished 22 of 30 from the line.
"I felt like we had legs and energy even though (in overtime) we had played a lot of minutes," Davis said. "Being able to knock down free throws is something we've done all year. When you're able to get into the double bonus and able to attack the basket, it sure puts a lot of pressure on the defense.
- Monday's contest marked the first MAC Tournament game that CMU has hosted.
- The game featured 10 ties and 10 lead changes. Neither team led by more than eight points.