Poor shooting leads to poor loss for CMU

There was a somber feeling inside the Central Michigan locker room, according to senior guard Braylon Rayson.

"We know we can do better," he said.

Reiterating what coach Keno Davis said last Saturday following the overtime loss to Ball State, Rayson knows how inefficient the Chippewas is on the defensive end, but because they are so productive offensively, it's what transpired Tuesday that had him upset.

Coming into McGuirk Arena facing its longest losing streak this season, the Chippewas, despite ranked in the top-20 nationally in seven different categories offensively, mustered their second lowest points total in the 89-66 loss.

"We have to do whatever it takes to turn it around these next couple of games," Cecil Williams said.

Central Michigan (16-12, 6-9) at one point trailed BSU by a game for the lead in the MAC West division, now sees itself sitting in front of only Eastern Michigan in the division race. CMU is two games behind Western Michigan for second place.

The Huskies, who're the Mid-American Conference's top scoring defense, allowing just 69 points a game, contested 34 of Central Michigan's 53 total shots. They also outrebounded CMU, 41-29.

Rayson, who's 13 consecutive MAC games of scoring 20 points or more came to a halt after finishing with 10 on 2-of-8 shooting, did pass former teammate John Simons on the CMU career 3-pointers list with 257.

Both of Rayson's made field goals came from beyond the arc. This comes after he reached third all-time in career scoring for CMU last weekend.

"I put in the work for it," Rayson said. "I passed a lot of great shooting, like John (Simons) and Robbie (Harman). It's good to get it during my fourth year."

Marcus Keene, who was featured in a story Monday night on the CBS Evening News, dropped 18 points. He shot 25 percent from the field, missing six from the 3-point line.

Williams had another respectable outing on the offensive end, finishing with 15 points, which is the second straight game he's reached double-digits. He added seven rebounds for a team-high.

Williams said that his main focus is being a contributing factor on defense, but as Josh Kozinski went scoreless and missed seven shots from beyond the arc, the junior guard is slowly evolving into the third man for CMU on offense.

"Whoever is hot is going to put points on the board," Williams said.

The Chippewas trailed by double-digits throughout the second half, after going into halftime down by 16. The score got to 72-52 in favor of Northern Illinois at the 9:51 mark.

Except for a meaningless tie within the first two minutes of the game, CMU trailed for nearly 39:30 minutes.

Five players finished in double-digit scoring for the Huskies, including Marin Maric with 16 points, grabbing 10 rebounds as well. Levi Bradley had 18 for a team-high.

The Chippewas are now 10-4 at home this season after starting off with just one loss.