Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
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Western Michigan
Eagles Fall to Broncos, 70-52
2/20/2008 11:22:03 PM | Men's Basketball
Carlos Medlock was the lone Eagle in double figures with 11 points
Box score.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Western Michigan University avenged an earlier loss this season with a 70-52 win over a visiting Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team here Wednesday night in a Mid-American Conference West Division showdown in University Arena.
The Eagles won the first meeting this season, 81-71, Jan. 12, in Ypsilanti, but the Broncos came back this time around with a strong inside game to post the win. The West-Division leading Broncos improve to 15-10 overall and 9-3 in MAC action. Eastern keeps its share of second place in the MAC West at 6-7 while the Eagles fall to 10-15 overall.
Western Michigan improved on a 33-23 halftime lead to race to a 19-point lead, 57-38, with 9:33 left in the game and the Broncos never looked back en route to the 18-point victory.
Junior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) was the lone EMU player in double figures with 11. WMU’s Joe Reitz led all scorers with 19 points and teammate David Kool added 15 points.
Western shot a hot 53.7 (22-of-41) from the field while holding the Eagles to just 32.3 percent (20-of-62) on the night. Western also held a 36-31 rebound advantage.
It was the Joe Reitz Show early as the senior center scored the first 12 WMU points to stake the Broncos to a 12-7 lead at the 15:42 mark. The Broncos would run that advantage to seven, 14-7, with 14:25 left before the Eagles fought back to pull within four, 19-15, on two foul shots by Medlock at the 7:53 mark.
The Broncos would slowly build the advantage back to eight, 26-18, with 4:48 left on a Reitz layup. Western would increase its lead to 10, 31-21, with 2:02 left in the half and would head to the locker room with a 10--point advantage, 33-23.
Reitz led the way in the first half with 17 points while EMU was paced by Medlock with six. Western shot 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the field in the first half while holding the Eagles to 33.3 percent (9-of-27).
