Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Ball State
Men's Basketball Falls in Overtime to Ball State
3/4/2006 5:23:08 PM | Men's Basketball
Eagles honor seniors John Bowler and Danny McElhinny
Box score.
FirstEnergy MAC Tournament Bracket.
YPSILANTI, Mich.—The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team fell, 89-77, in overtime to Ball State University here Saturday on Senior Day at the Convocation Center in a Mid-American West Division game. Ball State outscored EMU 11-3 down the stretch to force overtime and then went on a 17-5 roll in the extra period, going a perfect 7-for-7 from the field with three three-point buckets en route to the victory.
The loss drops EMU to 7-20 overall and 3-15 in league play while Ball State improves to 10-17 overall and 6-12 in the MAC.
Senior John Bowler (Chicago, Ill.-Notre Dame H.S.) ended his fabulous EMU career at home with the 31st double-double of his career, tallying 31 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) added 15 on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. Senior Danny McElhinny (Hermitage, Penn.-Kennedy Catholic) also closed out his solid career with eight points. Skip Mills led the Cardinals with a game-high 34 points.
The Eagles came out in the second half with a quick 5-0 run on a Bowler three-point play and Medlock lay-up to take an early 43-38 lead. Both teams continued to trade baskets with EMU clinging to a 53-51 lead with 11:47 remaining in the game. Eastern outscored Ball State 11-6 over the next five minutes to go up 64-57 on a spectacular ally-oop dunk by Nick Freer (Stevensville, Mich.-Lakeshore) from Medlock at the 6:40 mark.
The Cardinals would not go away as they ripped off an 11-3 run to take a one-point lead, 68-67, with 2:23 to go in the game. A pair of Craig Cashen (Cincinnati, Ohio-St. Xavier) free throws put EMU up, 69-68, at the 1:59 mark but BSU’s Chris Ames hit a layup giving the Cardinals a 70-69 lead. Medlock hit a clutch three-pointer with 1:03 remaining to put the Eagles back up, 72-70, however, Ball State once again tied the score at 72 all on a pair of Maurice Aker free throws at the :40 second mark. Freer missed a three giving the ball back to the Cardinals. Aker was not able to deliver as his jumper was off the mark as time expired to send the game in to overtime.
The game was nip and tuck throughout the first 11 minutes with the score knotted at 17. A pair of Cashen free throws gave the Eagles the lead briefly, 21-20, but Ball State outscored EMU 17-8 over the next six minutes to take a 36-28 lead. However, EMU responded with a 10-2 run of its own to close out the half with the score tied, 38-38. Bowler led the Eagles with 15 while Skip Mills paced the Cardinals with 18 points in the first half. Both teams shot well from beyond the arc with EMU hitting 4-of-9 for a 44 percent clip while Ball State hit a blistering 6-of-10 three-pointers for a 60 percent mark in the first 20 minutes.
EMU will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich. to take on intra-state rival Western Michigan in the first round of the 2006 First Energy MAC Tournament, Monday, at 7 p.m. in University Area.
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