Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Western Michigan (2006 FirstEnergy MAC Tournament First Round)
EMU Bows Out of MAC Tournament with 60-55 Setback at WMU
3/6/2006 9:30:27 PM | Men's Basketball
John Bowler collects 32nd career double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds
KALAMAZOO, Mich.— For the third time this season, the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team came up short against instate rival Western Michigan, dropping a 60-55 decision Monday night in the first round of the 2006 First Energy MAC Tournament at University Arena. The Broncos, who trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, used a 14-4 run to open the second period and secure the trip to Cleveland, Ohio for the quarterfinal round.
Senior John Bowler closed out his stellar career by recording his 32nd career double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Freshman Carlos Medlock added 12 points while junior Craig Cashen chipped in 11. The Eagles end the year with a mark of 7-21.
Western Michigan, now 14-16, was led by Brian Snider with 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting. Joe Reitz added 10 points to the Broncos offensive effort, while Stane’s Bufford had nine.
Both teams had trouble scoring to open the game, as Bowler finally got the Eagles on the score board first with a jumper in the lane to make it 2-0, after 2:31 of action. A Snider layup at the 16:07 mark got the Broncos in the books and cut the Eagle lead to two, 4-2. Eastern would go on a 15-7 run over the next five minutes to take a 10-point edge, 19-9, on a pair of Cashen free throws with 11:23 left in the period.
Western would cut the deficit to six, 23-17, on a Andrew Hershberger three-point play but the Eagles would respond with a run of their own. A pair of free throws by sophomore James Matthews with 5:07 remaining pushed the EMU lead to its biggest of the game at 14, 31-17.
The remaining minutes of the period would see the Broncos whittle away at the margin to get back within eight, 33-25, as the squads headed to the lockerroom. As a team, the Eagles shot 42.3 percent from the floor (11-of-26) compared to a 33.3 percent (9-of-27) clip for the Broncos. Medlock led all scorers with 10 points on 3-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc, while Snider paced WMU with seven.
After the break Western came out on fire, erasing the halftime deficit with a 14-4 run that lasted 8:07. Snider and Rietz paced the comeback, scoring eight and six points, respectively during the run. Bufford’s fast break dunk tied the game at 37 with 14:11 to go, it was the first tie since the game began. The offense went silent for both teams but a Reitz’s lay-up at the 11:53 mark gave the Broncos their first lead of the night, 39-37.
Eastern Michigan tied the score at 39 and 41 but a Bufford lay-up and Hershberger free throw gave WMU a lead it would never relinquish. The Eagles had one final run down the stretch, drawing to within four points on two occasions. Each time the Broncos answered, once with a Snider lay up and another time with a fast break Derek Fracalossi dunk.
The two teams changed fortunes in the second half. EMU shot 33.3 percent from the field (7-for-21) in the stanza while Western knocked down 14-of-26 shots to shoot 53.8 percent.
Western Michigan now travels to Cleveland for the 2006 MAC Tournament quarterfinals. The Broncos will face third seed Akron at 2 p.m. on March 9 in Quicken Loans Arena.
