Eastern Michigan Athletics
Men's Basketball Battles NIU Sunday
2/24/2006 9:48:28 AM | Men's Basketball
Game set for Sunday, Feb. 26, at 4 p.m
Complete Game Notes (PDF).
Listen to the Game via WEMU.
EMU HEADS DOWN THE STRETCH: The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team is out to finish the season on a winning note with three games left in the regular season. The Eagles travel to DeKalb, Ill. Sunday, Feb. 26, for a 4 p.m. Mid-American West Division matchup with the Northern Illinois University Huskies. Eastern will then travel to Mt. Pleasant, Mich. Wednesday, March 1, for a 7 p.m. West Division battle with the Central Michigan University Chippewas. The Eagles close out the regular season at home Saturday, March 4, at 2 p.m. against the Ball State University Cardinals.
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE TOURNEY:
The 2006 First Energy Mid-American Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament is set to begin Monday, March 6, with the teams seeded five through eight hosting the squads seeded 9-12. The top teams from each division will hold the first two seeded spots and receive a bye in the first round, and the next two teams with the best winning league percentages will get the other two byes. Those four top seeds will join Monday’s winners at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, March 9-11, for the quarterfinals, semifinals and title game.HEADING HOME: Senior John Bowler’s parents will have a short ride Sunday, Feb. 25, to watch their son play. The Bowler’s have made a lot of long trips from their Chicago, Ill. home to watch their son in action over the past four years. Sunday’s trip to DeKalb will be a short one for the Bowler family. John played his high school basketball at Notre Dame in Niles, Ill.
BOWLER HITS SIGNIFICANT LEVELS: Senior John Bowler has reached several significant plateaus through the first 24 games of the 2005-06 season. Bowler is just the fourth player in EMU history to score more that 1,300 points and grab more than 700 rebounds. Bowler has played in 108 games for the Eagles and started 79 times. He has scored 1,325 points and hauled down 750 rebounds during his four-year career to rank 13th in scoring and sixth in rebounding. His 413 career free throws is good for the fifth position. His next target on the scoring chart is Marlow McClain who scored 1,366 points from 1979-83. Bowler has also recorded 29 double-double scoring-rebounding efforts during his career.
SIZZLING FROM THE ARC: EMU freshman point guard Carlos Medlock turned in four of the most impressive shooting nights in EMU history the last two weeks. During a four-game stretch, Medlock made 19-of-27 three-point field goals during that stretch and scored 22 at BGSU (Feb. 7), 24 at home against Akron (Feb. 11), 20 at Western Michigan (Feb. 15) and 15 points at Eastern Illinois (Feb. 18). He cooled off in his last outing, at home against Toledo when he did not attempt a three after getting into early foul trouble. For the season he has now made 37-of-90 triples for a 41.1 shooting percentage.
CONVO MARK: Senior John Bowler came up with a couple of Convocation Center records Wednesday, Feb. 22, in the 70-59 loss to Toledo. His 24 field-goal attempts was a record for a game and his 15 second-half free throw attempts set a Convo mark. Bowler’s 17 made free throws is second best total in Convocation Center history and his 11 second-half free throws made is second.
GETTING CLOSER ALL THE TIME: The Eagles continue to be involved in close finishes. Eastern has lost nine games by seven points or less, and the Eagles have dropped four of those games by less than four points.
