Eastern Bows out in First Round of MAC Tourney

PHOTO BY RAJ MEHTA

CLEVELAND, OH-- The No. 10 seed Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team couldn't pull the three-peat against No. 7 seed Central Michigan University, falling 62-49 in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland.

After beating the Chippewas in two nail-bitters earlier this season--a 84-77 double overtime win on Jan. 13, and a 57-56 win on Feb. 28--Eastern was unable to answer CMU point guard Robbie Harman and his offensive explosion in the second half.

After going 0-1 with zero points, one assists and one turnover in the first half, Harman went on a personal 11-4 scoring run, including six straight points, to extend Central's 33-29 lead to 44-33. He finished the game with 13 points and seven assists.

"Coach [Ernie Zeigler] kept calling ball screens for me when after I hit my first couple shots in that second half," Harman said. "Eastern had beat us twice already this season, but we didn't lack any confidence. We went in there like it was any other game. We scouted well and we executed our plays well."

Eastern standout sophomore, and recent All-MAC selection, Brandon Bowdry led the Eagles with 13 points and six rebounds in 35 minutes of action, emerging freshman Antonio Green chipped in with 11 points and five rebounds. Green went 4-for-9 from the field including 3-for-5 from long distance.

"I was expecting them to play me really tough in the paint area, which they did," said Bowdry. "We played a very physical back-and-forth style in our first two games against them this season, so it wasn't anything new."

While the physical play in the paint didn't noticably affect Bowdry, junior center Brandon Dobbins--who was playing in front of his hometown--missed two layups and a dunk early in the contest. EMU Head Coach Charles Ramsey said the misses "drastically changed how the game went."

"Those kinds of plays are deflating to one team and inflating to the other," Ramsey said. "When you miss shots like that they linger, and we never really recovered from those, while Central capitalized on them."

The Eagles were able to pull within six points with just over 6 minutes remaining, but back-to-back three-point plays by CMU leading scorer and rebounder Marcus Van sealed the victory for the Chips. Van notched 17 points and five rebounds in the victory.

"We knew we had to shut down their offensive post game to be successful," Van said. "We scouted well and saw that once you shut down their post game they just start jacking up shots from anywhere."

Eastern had won four straight contests before today's loss. The Eagles finish the 2008-09 season with an 8-24 record (6-10 in MAC play).

"It's time to go back to the drawing board," Ramsey said. "We get Carlos [Medlock] back next season. With him, Brandon, Dobbins and the emergence of our young players and the talent we have coming in, we're in good shape."