Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Ball State
Eagles Drop 64-60 Road Decision
1/19/2008 3:23:46 PM | Men's Basketball
Carlos Medlock leads the Eagles with 21
Box score.
MUNCIE, Ind. — The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team dropped a 64-60 Mid-American Conference West Division decision to Ball State University here Saturday afternoon at Worthen Arena.
The Cardinals built up an eight-point lead, 63-55, with just 3:19 left before the Eagles mounted a comeback. Sophomore center Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) helped the Eagles cut the deficit to 63-60, on a lay-up and free throw with 1:37 left. After a Ball State miss, the Eagles had a chance to cut the lead even more, but an offensive charge call gave the ball back to the Cardinals with one minute left.
Eastern forced another back Ball State shot after that and retained possession with 23.8 seconds left in the game. The Eagles then moved the ball down court, but a turnover at the top of the key proved disastrous as the Cardinals came up with the steal. BSU added a free throw to make it 64-60 and a last-second shot by Eastern at the buzzer fell short.
Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) led the Eagles, now 6-10 overall and 2-2 in MAC action, with 21 points while Jesse Bunkley (Detroit, Mich.-CMA-Mott C.C.) and James Matthews (Detroit, Mich.-Finney) each added 10. Ball State, now 3-13 overall and 2-2 in the MAC, was paced by Malik Perry with 20. Ball State won the rebound battle, 36-30.
The Eagles opened the game with a flurry, racing to a 10-point lead through the first six minutes of the game. Medlock led the way with two three-point field goals during that stretch.
The Cardinals came back to cut the advantage to three, 16-13, at the 11:30 mark on a dunk by Rob Giles. Eastern would respond with two consecutive threes from Bunkley to go up by nine, 22-13, at the halfway mark.
Ball State would hang tough the rest of the half, however, cutting the advantage to one, 31-30, heading into intermission. Medlock paced the Eagles with nine first-half points while Bunkley added eight. Ball State was led by Giles and Peyton Stovall with seven points each. The Cardinals won the battle of the boards, 17-10.
The Cardinals opened the second half by taking their first lead of the game, 32-31, on a jumper by Anthony Newell. After trading buckets through the next four minutes, Ball State gained a two-point advantage, 37-35, at the 15:54 mark on a lay-up by Rashaun McLemore.
The home team would then go on a 14-10 run over the next seven minutes to increase their lead to six, 51-45, with 7:00 left in the game. Ball State would build its lead to nine, 63-57, with just 3:10 remaining.
