CMU escapes DeKalb with close win, Kevin McKay earns new career-high

Considering that Central Michigan is tied with Buffalo for most players to have earned MAC Player of the Week honors, with Cecil Williams, David DiLeo and Shawn Roundtree taking home the recognition, surely Kevin McKay would get his turn soon.

And after Tuesday's performance in DeKalb, Illinois, the sophomore guard gained front runner status, scoring 33 points for a new career-high at the Convocation Center.

McKay passes his previous record of 22, which was accomplished during the season opener back on Nov. 10. Sitting third in the conference in steals per game (2.6), CMU's sixth man helped end a two-game losing streak in the 80-72 over Northern Illinois.

"Not only did (Kevin) leads up in points, he was working defensively," head coach Keno Davis said. "A lot of times he was on (the Huskies) best player, giving us pressure, grabbing rebounds. Obviously coming up big in a road win was nice to see."

At one point in the first half, McKay was responsible for 17 of Central Michigan's 31 points. The Warren, Michigan, native battled hard with NIU's Eugene German, the league leader in points with 20 per game, who recorded 19 at home.

Roundtree was perfect from the charity stripe (9-9) as he was one of three Chippewa players to record double-digit points. The junior transfer went 3-of-11 from the field and 1-of-5 from long distance.

Fellow starters Josh Kozinski, David DiLeo and Williams had moderate outings, combining for four field goals off of 17 attempts. The latter of the three dropped eight free throws and two steals. McKay also had a game-high seven rebounds.

"Every time that (Kevin) is on the court he's showing what he can do," Davis said. "It's going to be exciting to see what he can do and for two more years, it's going to be a lot of fun for CMU fans to watch him."

47 personal fouls were called that resulted in two players leaving the game early, including Luke Meyer, who's made 21 of his last 22 free throws and is shooting 90.3% from the line this season, finishing with just two points and one rebound.

Central Michigan as a whole shot poorly from the 3-point line, scoring one less triple than German alone, who's 50 total this season lead the Huskies. Northern Illinois came into this game ranked second in the MAC in field goal percentage (.464).

The Chippewas did make up for it by dominating the glass, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds for 22 second chance points, as well as forcing 18 turnovers.

"I didn't expect this team to go 3-of-19 from three, especially when we made 17 the first time (we played NIU)," Davis said. "Hopefully that's something we're able to figure out. I think it's just the wear-and-tear of the season."

Never leading as much as four before the 14:10 mark of the second half, Central Michigan then went on a seven-minute run without a field goal, trailing by three with 7:13 left.

McKay broke the streak for his 26th point, which was then followed by a Matt Beachler layup to give CMU the 64-63 go-ahead advantage. The Hukies garnered a lead on three separate occasions afterward.

A win wasn't apparent until McKay recorded back-to-back buckets in a span of 50 second as the Chippewas shot up to a six-point difference with NIU unable to muster a comeback.

Heading back to McGuirk Arena this Saturday before going on another two-game road trip, Central Michigan hosts in-state rival Eastern Michigan for a rematch of the Jan. 9 loss in Ypsilanti. CMU has dropped five consecutive meetings against the Eagles.

"We’ve got to be able to execute against Eastern," Davis said. "That was a game that went down to the final minute. We're going to have to be able to have a short turnaround to see if we can work on our execution."