Ferris Men's Hoops Falls Short At CMU
Mount Pleasant, Mich. – The Ferris State University
men’s basketball team battled NCAA Division I Central
Michigan for most of the night, but in the end the Chippewas
registered an 82-69 triumph over the Bulldogs in regular-season
action Monday (Nov. 16) evening inside the Rose Center at Mount
Pleasant, Mich.
The Bulldogs built a nine-point lead only 5:40 into the game
before the Chippewas responded with a 10-0 run to grab the lead.
FSU retook the lead with 6:14 to go in the first half, but another
8-0 run by CMU helped the host school take a 36-29 halftime
edge.
In the second half, the Chippewas jumped the lead up to 12 points
at the 18:37 mark. FSU trimmed the lead down to five points three
times over a three-minute span, but could get no closer the rest of
the way.
Junior guard Darien Gay kept the Bulldogs in the
contest for much of the night as he tallied a game-high 26 points
and hit eight-of-nine three-point tries in the outing. The Bulldogs
also received 15 points from junior forward/center Justin
Keenan, who was doubled and tripled most of the game by
the bigger Chippewa lineup.
Ferris senior guard Jon Yeazel, who spent two
seasons with the Chippewas before transferring to FSU last year,
had a double-double effort against his former team with 13 points
and a game-best 15 rebounds, including 12 defensive boards.
“Overall, I thought we came out and competed," said FSU head
coach Bill Sall. “It was one of those
situations where we were fired up to play a bigger school and it
may have taken them a little while to get going.”
Ferris was hampered by 23 turnovers in the game, which helped
Central Michigan come up with 15 steals. Senior guard Robbie Harman
netted seven thefts of his own for CMU and scored a team-high 18
points on 7-of-11 shooting from the floor. He also dished out five
assists in 35 minutes of action.
Besides Harman, the Chippewas received 13 points from Marko Spica.
Finis Craddock, Jordan Bitzer and Chris Kellermann all tallied 11
points and Jalin Thomas finished with 10 points and 12 boards in a
double-double showing of his own for CMU.
The shooting percentages for the night were nearly even overall as
FSU shot 47.7% (21-44) and CMU at 47.5% (29-61). The Bulldogs had
the hotter hand beyond the arc on the heels’ of Gay’s
shooting touch as Ferris sank 10-of-19 (52.6%) treys while the
Chippewas made only six-of-19 (31.6%) attempts. Central Michigan
converted 18-of-28 (64.3%) free throws compared to Ferris’
17-of-25 (68.0%) performance at the charity stripe.
Central Michigan also finished the contest with a 37-30 rebounding
margin as the Chippewas' size advantage helped them finish with 15
offensive boards compared to only six for FSU.
Monday’s meeting represented the first regular-season
matchup between the two teams since Dec. 3, 1990. It was also only
the third official contest between the two schools since 1976.
FSU played the game without the services of senior guard
Austin Randel, who was injured in Sunday’s
(Nov. 15) non-league season opening setback at Lewis (Ill.) after
finishing with a game-high 19 points. However, the Bulldogs did
regain the services of sophomore guard Dontae
Molden, who played 11 minutes in his first action of the
regular-season.
With the loss, FSU drops to 0-2 overall after two hard-fought road
losses on back-to-back nights. CMU, which was chosen as the
Mid-American Conference (MAC) West Division favorite this campaign,
improved to 1-1 overall.
Ferris State concludes its season-opening non-conference road
swing by traveling to St. Joseph’s (Ind.) on Saturday, Nov.
21, for a 3 p.m. (CT) contest in Rensselaer, Ind.
Bulldog Bites: FSU’s Jon
Yeazel spent the 2005-06 and 2007-08 seasons with the
Chippewas before redshirting at Ferris last season. He previously
appeared in all 28 games and made two starts for Central Michigan
as a freshman in ’05-06 ……… The
Chippewas improved to 65-21 all-time versus FSU by beating the
Bulldogs for the fifth time in the last 11 meetings
………. Bulldog junior guard Matt
DeHart came off the bench to score six points and grab six
rebounds in 19 minutes of action while helping fill Austin
Randel’s void ………. FSU utilized
nine different players in the contest ………..
The announced attendance was 1,705 with a good contingent of
Bulldog fans on hand at the Rose Center ……….
The lead changed hands seven times in the game ……
Darien Gay hit four three-pointers in each half
for Ferris and was nine-of-11 overall from the floor.