Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Ball State
Offense Struggles as Men's Basketball Falls to Ball State
1/10/2009 7:07:06 PM | Men's Basketball
Bowdry leads Eagles with 16 points in loss
Box score.
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YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team dropped its Mid-American Conference opener here in the Convocation Center Saturday afternoon, Jan. 10, as the Ball State University Cardinals handed the Eagles a 46-42 loss.
The loss drops EMU to 2-13 (0-1 MAC) this season, while BSU improves to 6-7 (1-0 MAC) with the win.
Redshirt sophomore forward Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor, Mich.-Truman) scored a game-high 16 points on 3-of-19 shooting.
The Eagles struggled to find a rhythm on offense in the first half, as the team shot just 17 percent (4-of-23) from the field, including 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. Ball State's Anthony Newell led all scorers with 10 points at intermission, including a three-pointer as time expired to put EMU down, 24-13, in the opening frame.
EMU's 13 points is the second-fewest points scored in the first half in Convocation Center history and the lowest for the Eagles since moving to the arena in 1998. The previous low for EMU was 15 points, which occurred Jan. 9, 1999 against Ball State, while Rochester's 12 first-half points on Dec. 7, 2004 remains the fewest scored in Convocation Center history.
The Eagles managed to cut the Cardinals' lead to six with 7:57 left in the game, as jumper at the top of the key by senior center Kyle Dodd (Rockwood, Ont.-John F. Ross Collegiate) made it a 35-29 game.
Senior guard Zane Gay (Olivet, Mich.-Olivet) drilled a three pointer with four seconds remaining in the game to put the Eagles within four, but the Cardinals managed to hold on at the end for the victory.
The Eagles will be back in action Tuesday, Jan. 13, when they host in-state rival Central Michigan University for a Mid-American Conference match-up at 7 p.m. The two teams have not met since Feb. 16, 2008, when EMU registered a 67-64 win over CMU at the Convocation Center behind a game-high 15 points from Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville).
