Central Michigan cruises past Sam Houston to reach Shootout semifinals

Shawn Roundtree poured in 20 points and Cecil Williams added 16 to power Central Michigan to a 71-60 win over Sam Houston State in men's first-round Great Alaska Shootout action Wednesday at the Alaska Airlines Center.

The win puts the Chippewas (3-1) in Friday's 5:30 p.m. semifinal game against Cal Poly. Sam Houston State will play the College of Charleston in a consolation game at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Roundtree, a 6-foot senior guard, was one of six Central Michigan players to hit 3-pointers. The outside shooting allowed the Chippewas to outscore Sam Houston State 33-21 from 3-point range.

"We're a difficult team to defend in that we got a lot of players that can shoot the 3 and yet we're able to go the basket too," Central Michigan coach Keno Davis said. "It really put teams in a tough position on how they're gonna defend us."

David DiLeo grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Chippewas to a 34-29 rebounding edge, and Roundtree sank 8 of 9 free throws to give them a 16-3 advantage at the foul line. DiLeo also supplied nine points and two blocks.

Sam Houston State (2-2) was led by Jamal Williams (14 points, 8 rebounds), Chris Galbreath (12 points), John Dewey III (8 points, 10 assists) and Albert Almanza (10 points).

Central Michigan took a 42-30 halftime lead behind Roundtree's 12 first-half points and never let the lead dwindle to single digits in the second half.