Eastern Michigan Athletics
EMU to Honor Seniors Sunday
3/6/2008 5:32:27 PM | Men's Basketball
Playing their final home contests will be Jarred Axon, Nenad Banjanin, Jesse Bunkley and Travis Lewis.
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SERIES RECORD: Northern Illinois leads the series, 45-25. EMU won this year’s earlier meeting in DeKalb, Ill., 65-61, (Jan. 16). The two teams split in 2006-07 with Eastern notching a 63-62 last-second win in Ypsilanti (Jan. 9) and NIU winning, 76-69, (Feb. 4) in DeKalb. Northern has a decided edge in the series during the last eight seasons with a 12-3 record since the 2000-01 season.
CHECKING THE HUSKIES: Northern Illinois enters the game with a 6-20 overall record and a 3-10 Mid-American Conference mark. The Huskies dropped a 69-63 decision at Ball State Tuesday (March 4). The Huskies are led in scoring by guard Darion Anderson at 11.8 ppg while his backcourt mate, Jarvis Nichols, is averaging 10.3 points. The top NIU rebounder is Shaun Logan at 5.3 per game.
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.
SENIORS CLOSE IT OUT: Sunday’s (March 9) regular-season finale against Northern Illinois will be the final Convocation Center appearance for four EMU seniors. Playing their final home contests will be Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.), Nenad Banjanin (Belgrade, Serbia-Lon Morris (Texas) J.C.), Jesse Bunkley (Detroit, Mich.-CMA-Mott C.C.) and Travis Lewis (Kalamazoo, Mich.-Loy Norrix). In addition, team managers Marlon Murray and Ralph Sylvester will be honored in a pre-game ceremony.
MAC TOURNAMENT NEXT: The Eagles close out the regular season Sunday (March 9) against Northern Illinois. EMU is currently the seventh seed for the Mid-American Conference Tournament and could end up all alone in seventh or tied in seventh. Kent State, Western Michigan and Akron have all earned byes for the first round. Ohio, Miami and Central Michigan are all fighting for the fourth and final seed. The pairings will not be guaranteed until Sunday’s (March 9) games. The entire post-season tournament is scheduled to be played at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The top four teams receive byes and the first round is slated for Wednesday, March 12, when the #8 plays #9, #5 plays #12, #7 plays #10 and #6 squares off against #11.
FOUR IN A ROW: EMU’s 75-64 win over a visiting Ball State team (March 1) was the Eagles’ fourth-consecutive Mid-American Conference win at home. The last time the Eagles won four straight MAC home games was 1997-98 when they won seven league tilts in a row.
TOP 10 IN FIVE CATEGORIES: Junior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) is ranked in the top 10 in five seperate MAC categories. Medlock is fifth in assists (4.14), sixth in free-throw percentage (.823), seventh in assists/turnover ratio (1.16), eighth in both scoring (14.6) and 3-pointers made (2.07).
FIVE STRAIGHT: EMU has won five consecutive home games. The last time the Eagles captured five straight at home was the 2004-05 season when they won six in a row.
NEARING 1,000: EMU junior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) is just 18 points shy of becoming the 26th player in EMU men’s basketball history to score 1,000 points. Medlock has been a consistent performer for the Eagles his entire career. He has played in 74 games for EMU and has scored 982 points. He has also recorded 55 double-figure scoring games, has scored 20 or more points 17 times and has led or tied the team in scoring 30 times.
SETTING THE BAR: EMU’s 33 free throws and 86 points in the win over Southeast Missouri State (Feb. 23) in the O’Reilly BacketBuster game were both season-best performances for the Eagles.
RAMSEY IMPROVES TO 3-0 IN BRACKETBUSTER ACTION: EMU head coach Charles E. Ramsey is now 3-0 in O’Reilly Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBuster competition after an 86-82 win over a visiting Southeast Missouri State University team (Feb. 23).
AXON SETS CAREER BEST: Senior guard Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.) established a career-best in scoring with a 29-point effort in an 86-82 win over a visiting Southeast Missouri State University team (Feb. 23, 2008) in the sixth annual O’Reilly Auto Parts ESPNU BracketBuster game. Axon made 8-of-15 field goals, 5-of-11 3-point attempts, all eight free throws and grabbed four rebounds with two assists against the Redhawks. His previous high total was 23 points at Northern Illinois (Jan. 16, 2008).
LARGEST MARGIN SINCE 2004: When EMU won by 24 points against Toledo (Jan. 22) it marked the largest 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) versus a visiting Navy team, Jan. 7, 2004, under then-head coach Jim Boone.
TWO FOR 20: EMU guards Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.) and Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) both turned in 20-plus scoring efforts in a win over Southeast Missouri State (Feb. 23). Axon scored a career-best 29 points while Medlock added 24. That two-man 20-point effort was the first for EMU since John Bowler and Danny McElhinny each tallied 21 in an 80-69 win at Central Michigan (March 1, 2006), 59 games between outings.
MEDLOCK STRONG AT THE STRIPE: Senior point guard Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) tied the fourth-best single-game free-throw effort in school history with 16-of-18 against SEMO (Feb. 23). Those 16 charity tosses tied three other players for fourth best.
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 (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).
FOUR IN DOUBLES: EMU had four players in double figures in Saturday’s (March 1) win over Ball State. Carlos Medlock (Detroit, Mich.-Murray Wright) led the way with 20 followed by Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.) with 16, Jesse Bunkley (Detroit, Mich.-CMA-Mott C.C.) with 14, while Nenad Banjanin (Belgrade, Serbia-Lon Morris (Texas) J.C.) added a career-best 11 points.
