Seventh Heaven in Mount Pleasant

Not one player on the men's basketball team has won in Mount Pleasant, Mich., and that was enough motivation for the squad coming into Wednesday's game.

It wasn't the prettiest display of basketball, and the Bulls (15-6, 8-2 Mid-American Conference) got all they can handle from a desperate Central Michigan (7-16, 2-8 MAC) team, but they were able to squeak by the Chippewas 66-62 at McGuirk Arena.

This marks the seventh straight win for the Bulls, after starting the MAC portion of the schedule 1-2. It was also the fourth straight road victory, setting a program record.

"[Winning four straight road conference games] is very difficult," said head coach Reggie Witherspoon. "That's hard to do. To be able to win one road game in the MAC is hard enough, but to string them together is very tough."

Leading the way for the Bulls was sophomore forward Javon McCrea. Central Michigan had a very difficult time containing the 6-foot-7 beast, as he posted 16 points and 10 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.

He was one of four players scoring in double digits, as senior forward Mitchell Watt recovered from a rare single-digit scoring performance last Saturday, finishing with 15 points. Senior guard Zach Filzen was able to utilize the 3-ball effectively after struggling in the previous contest, scoring 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.

The Bulls also got a big lift from sophomore Auraum Nuiriankh, who scored 11 points, with most of those baskets coming from three.

"[Auraum] had tremendous energy," Witherspoon said. "He took care of the basketball and gave us a huge lift. For a sophomore to be able to do that on the road is big."

But the game wasn't won without a fight.

The Chippewas were able to erase two double-digit deficits despite being manhandled by the Bulls on the boards by a 48-27 margin, and only shooting 32 percent from the field in the game.

"Anytime you shoot about the same from the free throw line as from the field, you're either going to be shooting really well or you shot pretty poorly from the free throw line," Witherspoon said. "It was very difficult to watch [from the bench]."

A huge problem for the Bulls was their atrocious free throw shooting. They started off 1-for-10 from the charity stripe, and eventually finished 10-for-23, compared to the Chippewas converting 18 out of 23 free throws.

Olivier Mbaigoto led the scoring charge for Central Michigan, scoring 18 points. Three other players also scored in double figures, as Austin McBroom, Derek Jackson, and Austin Keel all finished with 11.

"Defensively I thought we were OK," Witherspoon said, "But we didn't have the energy that we really needed to close things out, and they hit some shots. I think with the pace of the game we didn't have any rhythm."

With the Ohio Bobcats (19-5, 7-3 MAC) failing to win Wednesday night, the Bulls now find themselves firmly in second place in the MAC. This year, the top two seeds are able to get a triple-bye into the semifinals of the MAC tournament in Cleveland, Ohio.

The Bulls finish their MAC West portion of the schedule as they come home to face the Western Michigan Broncos (10-14, 5-5 MAC) on Saturday at Alumni Arena in the second game of a double-header. Tipoff for the women's basketball game is scheduled for 3 p.m, and the men's game is slated for 6 p.m.

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