***Photos included***.

Also take a look at the list of basketball visitors and pics of Jerret Smith and Ronald Coleman in action.

Lester drives into the lane

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The Wolverines started the game against the Chips like gangbusters. They went on a 28-2 tear to open the contest, which under normal circumstances would put a team away. Central Michigan coach Jay Smith indicated that he didn’t have anything fancy to say to his team when they fell behind so far. “I just told them that we couldn't shoot any worse,” Smith said. “We were 0-for-10 at one point and there is no way to go but up, so we kept clawing and scratching and fought right back into it.” It didn’t get better for Smith’s squad right away though. Lester Abram, whom was taken out of the lineup in the last game, looked to have regained his offensive stroke, knocking down the Maize and Blue’s first 5 points, and 15 of the first 37 (including three 3-pointers). After ten minutes, the home team had increased its lead to 29 points (37-8). But as Coach Smith mentioned, his team would fight back. . They nailed 5 of their 6 first half 3’s in the last nine minutes to key a 24-13 run, and head into the locker room down 50-32. Though UM had a comfortable lead going into the half, the fact that they began giving up open looks was alarming. It also was a forecast of things to come in the 2nd period.

Lester for 3!

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Michigan was able to match CMU from long range in the first half, hitting 6/10 threes. However, the Wolverines would go cold from beyond the arc in the 2nd, (going only 1/8), while Chippewas would continue their late first period marksmanship (going 6/10). Senior Chippewa Center Gerret Brigitha added a dimension to the visitor’s attack when he began to assert himself in the post. That along with excellent ball movement and slow defensive rotation on the Wolverines part would prove to be a formidable inside-out offense for CMU. They finally got the lead under 10 at the 12:11 mark when TJ Meerman knocked down a huge triple. Their continued when Kevin Nelson, Brandon Voorhees, and Plymouth’s David Hoskins made jumpers successive times down the court to make the score 65-61 with 7:54 to go. Lester Abram did his best to fight off the Chips, knocking down a jumper and a free throw to get the lead back up to 7. Bernard Robinson Jr. and Graham Brown would follow that with two more buckets to push the lead back to double digits (72-61). Unfortunately, the Wolverines would open the comeback door one more time when their senior leader made a huge mistake that CMU capitalized on.

Bernard Robinson Jr.

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With 5:32 remaining and up 9 (72-63), Bernard Robinson Jr. was called for a foul down low on the offensive end. Obviously upset with the call, Robinson’s frustration was exacerbated when Brigitha forcefully bumped him with his shoulder…knocking him backward. The referees didn’t see the obvious foul and Robinson responded by giving Brigitha a shove that sent the 6-9 240-pounder to the floor. The refs then hit Robinson with a technical (and ultimately his fourth foul), which sent the senior to the bench. Brigitha converted both technical foul free throws, starting a 7-1 run that cut the lead to 3 (73-70) with 5:12 left in the game. An inspired Robinson re-entered the game at the 4:42 mark and immediately went to work offensively. He nailed a jumper in the lane, was fouled in the act, and converted the free throw to put the Wolverines up 6, 76-70. He later said that though the foul was definitely a mistake on his part, it did serve to as a spark. “I think it sparked the team,” Robinson Jr. said. “I have to learn to keep my head. You can spark the team in other ways without getting a tech, so it’s definitely something that I don’t want to do again. But at the same time, I used that tech to get me going emotionally to try to help the team out.” Michigan would stretch the advantage to 8 with another jumper from Abram, but that still wasn’t enough to put the Chips away. Brigitha hit a nifty hook down low and got a huge three in transition from Hoskins to cut the lead back to 3 (78-75) with 2:50 remaining. That’s when Robinson Jr. and Graham Brown took over to put the game away.

Graham Brown

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Brown converted 2 free throws with 2:13 left to push the lead back to 5. The gritty big man then followed that up with a huge tip of a loose ball off of Bernard Robinson’s missed free throw attempt the next time down the floor. Robinson retrieved the ball off the tip and was fouled once again. The two players would close out the scoring with a pair of free throws each to ice the game and lead Michigan to the 85-75 win. Though happy with the victory, Coach Amaker will definitely be talking to his team about losing such a big lead. “They (CMU) played a tremendous last 25 minutes of play,” Amaker said. “They put a lot of pressure on us. They can spread you and shoot the ball well. I give our kids credit. We were not pleased with how we lost the lead, but they had something to do with it. We made some big plays when we needed them the most. I thought Graham Brown's play in the late stages of the game was good. He played very intelligent, smart basketball. I like the growth of our team, but the next step is to be able to handle a lead and handle the situation much better.”

Lester Abram with the runner

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On the game UM was led by Robinson Jr. with 22 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals… and Abram with 24 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal. While the aforementioned two provided the scoring punch in the Wolverines attack, the combo of J.C. Mathis and Graham Brown handled the dirty work that Coach Amaker has talked so much about. They helped UM to their first rebounding edge in the past couple games (39-25) with 13 from Mathis (along with 8 points) and 9 from Brown (to go along with 8 points). For the boxscore, more quotes, and game notes, click the following links: (boxscore, quotes, notes).

Michigan will play its next game at 7pm (EST) Monday at Crisler versus Delaware State.

Faces in the Crowd:

Detroit Renaissance coach Mark White and his team, (including Joe Crawford and Malik Hairston).

Detroit Pershing’s coach along with Deshaun Simms and Jabarie Currie.

Jerret Smith directs his team

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Also in attendance were Jerret Smith and Ronald Coleman of Romulus. I went out to see the Eagles play twice this week. The first game was a blowout win on Tuesday versus Ypsilanti Lincoln (for those that missed that report, which includes an extensive photo gallery, click here). The second game was an even more lopsided win Friday against Monroe. Unlike the game versus Ypsi (which was highly competitive for 2.5 quarters, the contest against Monroe was over soon after the opening tip. Romulus ran all over the visitors and won 77-28. Ron Coleman scored 31 points in his second straight game. He also shipped in with 9 boards. Junior Jerret Smith scored only 3 points but quarterbacked an excellent floor game with 9 assists, including a couple of highlight-reel dimes! We’ll have more on these two throughout the season.

Ronald Coleman with the runner	Jerret for 3!	Ronnie goes up for the dunk!
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