EMU Advances in MAC Tournament

Box score.

CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team withstood a comeback attempt by Ball State University, holding off the Cardinals, 51-48, to advance to the quarterfinals of FirstEnergy MAC Tournament here at Quicken Loans Arena. The Eagles, who led by as many as 15 points, needed a free throw by freshman Brandon Bowdry (Taylor, Mich.-Truman) with 13 seconds remaining and a defensive stop to seal EMU’s first MAC Tournament win since March 4, 1998. EMU (13-18) will take on No. 1 seed Toledo Rockets, Thursday, March 8 at noon.

EMU was led by junior guard Jesse Bunkley (Detroit, Mich.-CMA-Mott C.C.) who went 5-of-6 from downtown with 15 points. Bunkley’s five three pointers was just one shy of tying EMU’s record for three pointers in the MAC tournament game held by Derrick Dail and Ellery Morgan with six. The Eagles had two other players in double figures with freshman forward Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) scoring all 11 points in the second half while grabbing seven rebounds. Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-School Craft C.C.) chipped in 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. Bowdry notched nine points with a career-high 15 rebounds. His 15 boards also set the EMU record for most rebounds in a MAC tournament game previously held by Vince Giles and Kareem Carpender with 13.

“Well, first I’d like to say that it’s been nine years since we’ve been in this position and we’re elated about being in the next round, said head coach Charles E. Ramsey. "Its been a nine year losing streak in the MAC tournament. We’re elated, I’m elated, and hopefully our alumni are elated. The kids did a hell of a job, I couldn’t be more proud of them. Hopefully we grew up a lot.”

EMU was held scoreless from the field by Ball State (9-22) for the final 6:14 of the game. However, with EMU holding a slim 49-47 lead with just 1:07 remaining, Micah Rollin hit a free throw but missed the second to bring the Cardinals with one, 49-48, with 51 seconds left. Off the miss, BSU got the rebound but could not connect on a shot from the field to take the lead. Devon Dumes (Indianapolis, Ind.-Decatur Central) split a pair of free throws to give EMU a two point lead, 50-48, with 25 seconds left. Off another missed jumper by Skip Mills, Bowdry grabbed the rebound and was fouled in the process. He calmly stepped to the line, hit the first shot from the charity stripe but missed the second to put Eastern up three, 51-48. Peyton Stovall grabbed the rebound with 13 seconds left and passed it to Skip Mills who missed the game-tying three as time expired to give EMU the victory.

Ball State was led by Anthony Newell who notched a double-double scoring a game-high 20 points with 13 boards. Mills also added 13 points.

Both teams started the second half sluggish as Ball State missed its first six shots with EMU adding only three points to extend its lead to 35-25 at the 15:37 mark. BSU scored a quick five points before Dobbins delivered a thunder dunk from the baseline to maintain EMU’s lead at eight, 39-31 with 11:39 remaining. Dobbins added another five points to push EMU ahead 12, 45-33, at the 8:44 mark 11 out of EMU’s 13 second-half points. Once again, the Cardinals responded with a 6-0 run to cut the lead in half, 45-39, with 6:57 to go. BSU continued its run increasing it to 12-5 inching within four points at 49-45 at the 3:32 mark. Neither team could score over the next two minutes but Newell knocked down a pair of free throws cut the lead to two, 49-4,7 with just 1:07 remaining.

EMU connected on its first 3-of-4 three pointers to take a slim 11-10 lead by the first media time out at the 14:30 mark. Bunkley hit his fourth consecutive three to put Eastern up 17-10. Peyton hit a jumper for Ball State before Craig Cashen (Cincinnati, Ohio-St. Xavier) answered to move the Eagles ahead, 19-12, with 10:58 to play in the first half. EMU continued its run and jumped out to a 27-12 lead forcing BSU to burn a timeout. Ball State responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 27-20 forcing EMU to use a 30 second timeout. Dumes ended the Cardinal run with a clutch three pointer to extend EMU’s lead to 10, 30-20, heading into the final media timeout with 3:46 remaining. BSU outscored EMU 5-2 to close out the half with the Eagles holding a 32-25 lead heading into the locker room. For the half, EMU shot a blistering 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) from behind the arc and was lead by Bunkley who led all scorers with 15 points. Newell paced Ball State with seven points.

Additional Notes:

· Prior to the game – freshman Brandon Bowdry was selected to the All-Freshman team

· Today’s game marked the Eagles first game in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena since the tournament moved to the “Rock and Roll City” in 1999-2000

· Ball State has lost three times to the same basketball team in one season on four occasions. The last three times it happened, the opponent went on to win the Mid-American Conference championship.

· The victory marked the Eagles’ first postseason win since the 1998 MAC Championship game when EMU upended Miami University, 92-77, to advance to the NCAA Tournament.

· The win also snaps the Green and White’s eight game postseason losing skid that dates back to a 83-71 setback to Michigan State in the 1998 NCAA Tournament First Round, March 14, 1998.

· Brandon Bowdry notched a career-high 15 rebounds which also set the EMU record for most rebounds in a MAC tournament game previously held by Vince Giles and Kareem Carpender with 13.

· Charles E. Ramsey becomes just the fourth EMU men’s basketball coach to win a MAC Tournament game in their career. He joins Jim Boyce, Ben Braun and Milton Barnes as the only other mentors to win a game in the school’s 26 tournament appearances.

· The Eagles will now face the University of Toledo in the Quarterfinal Round Thursday, March 8, at Noon. Eastern is 4-2 all-time versus the Rockets in tournament play.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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