Eastern Michigan Athletics
Battle For Second Set For Saturday
2/15/2008 1:20:34 PM | Men's Basketball
Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center.
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CHECKING THE CHIPS: Central Michigan enters Saturday’s (Feb. 16) game with a 10-13 overall record and a 5-6 MAC mark. The Chips dropped a 79-66 decision Tuesday (Feb. 12) at home against Kent State. Senior guard Giordan Watson leads CMU with a 16.8 scoring average while forward Nate Minnoy is second at 10.2 ppg. Marcus Van is the top CMU rebounder at 4.8 per game.
SERIES RECORD: Central Michigan leads the series with Eastern Michigan, 92-81. CMU won the earlier meeting this year, 62-53, Jan. 6) in Mount Pleasant.The two teams split games in 2006-07 with CMU taking a 74-68 win, Jan. 6, in Ypsilanti and the Eagles coming back to record an 87-83 overtime win, March 2, in Mount Pleasant.
FOR THE 111th TIME: The 2007-08 season is the 111th year of men’s intercollegiate basketball at Eastern Michigan University. EMU played its inaugural season in 1897-98 and split games with Detroit, losing a 2-0 decision before coming back for a 4-0 victory. This year will also be the 34th for the Eagles as a member of the Mid-American Conference. The first year of MAC play for EMU was 1974-75 when the then-Hurons went 12-14 overall and 4-9 in league play. EMU has won three Mid-American Conference titles: 1987-88, 1990-91, and 1995-96, and the Green and White captured MAC Tournament crowns in all three of those years in addition to winning the MAC tourney title in 1997-98.
MEDLOCK MATCHES BEST: Junior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) tied his career-best point total with 26 in a 78-68 win over a visiting Bowling Green State University team Wednesday (Feb. 13). Medlock connected on 6-of-10 field goals, 5-of-5 triples and 9-of-10 free throws against the Falcons. His other 26-point effort came at home against Buffalo (Jan. 28, 2007).
SECOND-PLACE BATTLE: The Eagles will host Central Michigan Saturday (Feb. 16) in a battle for second in the Mid-American Conference West Division. EMU, CMU and Toledo are deadlocked with 5-6 records, behind Western Michigan’s 8-3 first-place mark. Toledo is slated to play Sunday (Feb. 17) at Ball State.
HOT FROM BEYOND THE ARC: The Eagles shot a sizzling 52.6 percent (10-of-19) 3-point field goals in Wednesday’s (Feb. 13) win over Bowling Green. That 52.2 percent was a season’s best for the Green and White, surpassing the 48 percent (12-of-25) against the University of Detroit Mercy (Nov. 28).
KNOCKING OFF A CO-LEADER: EMU came up with a huge win (Feb. 6) by handing Mid-American Conference East Division co-leader Ohio a 63-56 setback.
MR. CONSISTENT: EMU junior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) has been a consistent performer for the Eagles his entire career. He has played in 69 games for EMU and has recorded 50 double-figure scoring games, has scored 20 or more points 14 times and has led or tied the team in scoring 27 times.
PROTECTING HOME TURF: The Eagles will need to protect their home turf in the final six games of the regular season with four of those contests scheduled to be played in the friendly confines of the Convocation Center. EMU will host Central Michigan Saturday (Feb. 16) before heading to Western Michigan for a Wednesday (Feb. 23) game in Kalamazoo followed by two straight home games, a BracketBusters non-conference game against Southeast Missouri State (Feb. 23) and a March 1 meeting with Ball State. The next to last tilt is slated for March 4 at Toledo and the regular-season finale is scheduled for March 9 against Northern Illinois. In addition the games against BGSU, Ball State and Toledo are all Comcast Local TV matchups with the game at WMU slated for 9 p.m. national television appearance on ESPNU.
TWO OF TOP SIX: The Eagles have two of the top six 3-point shooters in the MAC. Jesse Bunkley (Detroit, Mich.-CMA-Mott C.C.) is second with 2.41 triples made per game while Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.) is sixth with 2.13 per game.
HOISTING THREES: The Eagles turned in their highest 3-point total of the season Sunday (Feb. 10) at Buffalo when they launched 38 triples, making 14. EMU has attempted 30 or more threes in a trio of games, with 38 at Buffalo, 35 at St. Bonaventure (Nov. 24) and 34 at Akron (Feb. 2). Eastern has taken 20 or more three pointers in 17 games this season and the Eagles have posted a 6-11 record in those contests.
AXON FINDS THE RANGE AGAIN: Senior guard Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.) not only set a career-best with his 23-point effort in a win over Northern Illinois (Jan. 16), but his seven three-point field goals tied for the fifth-best single-game effort in EMU history. His seven triples ties him with Bryant Kennedy (1-4-92 at Rhode Island) and Brian Tolbert (3-16-96 vs. UConn in the NCAA Tournament) for fifth. Derrick Dial (1-5-98 vs. MARSHALL) set the single-game EMU record with nine. He just missed that mark against Ohio (Feb. 6) with six triples.
EMU TO HOST SEMO: The Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks will be EMU’s opponent Saturday, Feb. 23, in the sixth annual O’Reilly’s Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBusters game. The Redhawks, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, are currently 12-12 overall and 7-7 in OVC action. SEMO is coached by second-year man Scott Edgar. This will be the first meeting between the two schools on the basketball court. EMU hosted SEMO in football, Sept. 14, 2002, and the Eagles recorded a 35-32 victory.
LARGEST MARGIN SINCE 2004: When EMU won by 24 points against Toledo (Jan. 22) it marked the biggest winning margin in head coach Charles E. Ramsey’s three-year EMU tenure. It was the largest winning margin over an NCAA Division I team since a 99-52 victory (47 points) over a visiting Navy team, Jan. 7, 2004, under then-head coach Jim Boone.
LONG-TIME COMING: EMU’s 65-61 win at Northern Illinois (Jan. 16) broke a nine-game EMU losing streak in DeKalb. The last time EMU had won at NIU was ironically, Jan. 17, 1998.
MATTHEWS DISMISSED FROM TEAM: EMU head coach Charles E. Ramsey has announced that senior center James Matthews (Detroit, Mich.-Denby) has been dismissed from the team for the remainder of the 2007-08 season for conduct detrimental to the program. Matthews missed the first eight games of the season and returned to play in 10 games, averaging 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds.
HALL OF FAME FEB. 16: The 32nd Annual EMU Athletic Hall of Fame, sponsored by the E-Club Alumni Chapter, will be held Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008, in the new EMU Student Center. The Class of 2007 includes: Al Jagutis (basketball, men’s tennis), Marci Kelley (softball), Mark Leonard (men’s swimming), Tamyka McCord (track and field), Stan Vinson (track and field), and Doug Willer (wrestling).
