A 30-win campaign and NCAA Tournament run followed a Junkanoo Jam championship for the Central Michigan women’s basketball team a season ago. This year, the men’s Chippewas will have a similar opportunity. 

Central Michigan won the 2018 Junkanoo Jam championship on aggregate, its 12-point win over Cal State Bakersfield on opening night making the difference. 

Central Michigan, Cal State Bakersfield, and Weber State all finished the three-game, round-robin tournament 2-1. And the close competition did not end at the mirroring records. 

The 67-55 final between Central Michigan and Cal State Bakersfield was the only game decided by double digits. Four came down to one or two points, including Bakersfield’s 68-67 win over Weber State, scored on Damiyne Durham’s three-pointer with just five seconds remaining. Jerrick Harding’s buzzer-beater attempt in the Jam’s finale was no good. 

Both Durham and Harding earned All-Tournament honors. Durham’s heroics headlined a balanced overall performance from the Roadrunners over the three games, with a different player leading in scoring each night. 

Harding, who was making his season debut at the Junkanoo Jam, led all scorers for the weekend. He notched 31 points in an 85-77 win over San Jose State; 25 against Central Michigan; and 22 against Bakersfield. 

With a healthy Harding in the lineup and the reemergence of Cody John after medical-redshirting the 2017-18 season, Weber State leaves the Junkanoo Jam with a backcourt in place ready to make a push for a Big Sky Conference championship. 

Had Harding’s last-second shot against Bakersfield fallen, it would have been Weber State’s second win at the buzzer in as many games — a fitting snapshot of the Junkanoo Jam as a whole. The Wildcats knocked off Central Michigan, 78-76, on an Israel Barnes 3-pointer as time expired. 

The Chips scored their own measure of revenge, albeit at San Jose State’s expense. Shawn Roundtree scored on a bucket in the paint with four seconds remaining to down the Spartans, 76-74, in Central Michigan’s final game. 

San Jose State finished the Junkanoo Jam winless, but second-year coach Jean Piroleau’s Spartans lost by a total of 11 points in three contests. San Jose State has an emerging cornerstone around which to build coming out of the tournament, with 6-foot-10 JUCO transfer center Michael Steadman earning All-Tournament honors. 

Steadman averaged 11.7 points, 7 rebounds and a blocked shot per game. 

Central Michigan, meanwhile, returns to Mount Pleasant with two pieces of hardware to send it into the rest of the non-conference slate. In addition to the championship, the Chips boasted Most Valuable Player: Guard Larry Austin. 

The transfer from Vanderbilt scored in double-figures all three games, highlighted by a 30-point performance against Weber State. Austin also had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the championship-deciding win over Bakersfield. He finished with a 19-point per game average on the weekend. 

Joining Austin on the All-Tournament team, Kevin McKay’s 24 points, 12 rebounds, four steals and three assists against San Jose State may have been the most well-rounded, individual showing of the Junkanoo Jam. 

McKay averaged 16.3 points and nine rebounds for the tournament. The Chips also got 13 points per game from Roundtree, and 9.7 points per game from David DiLeo.

Kyle Kensing is a freelance sports journalist in southern California. Follow him on Twitter @kensing45.