Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
25-10
Abilene Christian
25-10
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
Dominant second half sends Blue Raiders to CBI title game
3/23/2022 12:41:00 AM | Men's Basketball
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Every time Middle Tennessee came close to Abilene Christian in the first half, the Wildcats pulled away.
Facing an 11-point deficit at two different points in the opening period, however, the Blue Raiders kept battling. A 4-0 run to close the half led into a second-half explosion in an 85-69 Middle Tennessee win in the semifinal round of the 2022 Roman College Basketball Invitational.
"Everybody out there [for Abilene Christian] was doing what they like to do," McDevitt said of the first half. "The guys who like to deck it and drive it were doing that. The guys who like to catch it and shoot it were doing that, and that's the reason they had 46 [points] at halftime. You've got to make players uncomfortable on the offensive end of the floor, and I thought we were able to do that more in the second half."
The Wildcats shot the lights out in the first half, making 16 of 28 field goal attempts (.571) and 7-of-11 (.636) from 3-point range. Those percentages plummeted in the second period, as MT held ACU to just 4-for-21 (.190) from the floor and 1-for-8 (.125) from long range after halftime.
A slow start put the Blue Raiders in a quick hole against a chaotic Wildcat attack. MT made just two of its first nine field goal attempts as ACU jumped out to an 18-7 lead.
Middle Tennessee recovered to make 13 of its last 19 attempts in the first half, but despite cutting the deficit to a one-possession game on five different occasions over the final 12:30 of the opening period, it could not get over the hump.
ACU extended its lead back to 11 shortly before the half, but a pull-up jumper by Elias King and a buzzer-beating coast-to-coast layup by Donovan Sims gave MT the final four points of the half.
The Blue Raiders shot 60 percent from the floor in the second half, but the real improvement came on the defensive end. Middle Tennessee held ACU to one of its first 11 field goal attempts of the second half – at one point keeping the Wildcats from converting a field goal for nearly 13 minutes – and forcing eight second-half turnovers with six steals.
"I thought we were doing a good job with our length," McDevitt said of the second-half clampdown. "Justin Bufford, Tyler Millin, Eli Lawrence, T[eafale Lenard, Jr.], a lot of different guys were able to use their length to really bother them."
Lenard's second dunk of the night put the Blue Raiders in front for the first time with 14:19 left to play. A free throw helped the Wildcats tie it temporarily, but a Tyler Millin 3-pointer at the 11-minute mark gave MT the final lead of the game.
The Blue Raiders doubled up the Wildcats in the second half, outscoring the team from West Texas 46-23 in the final 20 minutes.
Sims and Lawrence ended the game with team highs of 17 points and four rebounds. DeAndre Dishman, who reached 1,000 points for his career in the second half, also pulled in four rebounds to go along with 11 points. King added 10 points of his own, reaching double figures for the second straight game. Camryn Weston's nine assists were a game high.
The Blue Raiders advance to the championship game of the CBI at 4 p.m. Wednesday against UNC Wilmington.
Game Notes
- The Blue Raiders advance to the championship game of a postseason tournament for the first time ever.
- MT won a game by double digits after trailing by double digits for the second time this season.
- Lenard tied Reggie Scurry for the program record with his 49th dunk of the season.
- Dishman became the second Blue Raider to reach the 1,000-point mark this season, joining Sims, who accomplished the feat in February against Old Dominion. Dishman scored 512 points with Eastern Kentucky before transferring to Middle Tennessee, where he has scored 491. He becomes the third member of the Blue Raider roster to amass 1,000 career points, joining Sims and Jalen Jordan.
- MT's 26 wins on the season are the fourth-most in program history.
- Middle Tennessee tied Towson for the largest year-over-year win total increase by improving upon last season's win total by 21.
