Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Chicago State
Men's Basketball Falls at Chicago State
1/3/2009 4:16:33 PM | Men's Basketball
Brandon Bowdry leads EMU with a double-double on 23 points, 10 rebounds
Box score.
CHICAGO, Ill. — The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team could not put two strong halves together as the Eagles dropped a 79-61 non-conference decision to Chicago State University here Sunday afternoon, Jan. 3, in the Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center.
Head coach Charles E. Ramsey’s Eagles fell to 2-11 on the year while Chicago State improved to 8-7.The nation’s second-leading scorer, Chicago State senior guard David Holston, a native of Pontiac, Mich. who played high school basketball at Auburn Hills’ Avondale, was held to just three points in the first half on a strong defensive effort by the Eagles. Holston managed 13 second-half points to finish with 16. Teammate John Cantrell, also a native of Pontiac, added 15 and Mike Wilson scored 18 for the Cougars.
Eastern was led by redshirt sophomore Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) turned in a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds while sophomore Will Cooper (Detroit, Mich.-Pershing-Bridgton) scored a career-best 16.
The Eagles came up with a strong defensive effort in the first half, holding Chicago State to just 34.4 percent (11-of-32) from the field while shooting 57.9 (11-of-19).
That story was turned completely around in the second half, however, as the Cougars connected on 17-of-28 field goals (60.7) in the second half while limiting the Eagles to just 30.6 percent on 11-of-36 shooting. The Eagles did manage a 40-34 advantage on the boards.
The Eagles started the game on a quick 11-4 lead to start the game with Bowdry accounting for six of those points on two field goals and two free throws.
Eastern kept that early lead and improved it to nine points several times, holding a 19-10 advantage with 7:44 left in the half before Chicago State came back to pull within two, 21-19, after guard Mike Wilson connected on three consecutive 3-point field goals.
Chicago State then fought back to tie the game at 27-all on two straight inside buckets by 6-foot-10 Nemanja Stankovic. Those two scores by Stankovic proved to be the final scores of the first half.
The Eagles held Holston, who entered the game with a 26.9 scoring average, to just three points in the first 20 minutes. Bowdry led EMU with eight first-half points while Wilson topped CSU with nine. Eastern held the Cougars to just 34.4 percent shooting (11-of-32) in the first half while the Eagles were shooting
The Cougars bounced back from that early shooting drought to connect on three straight 3-pointers by Cantrell to start the second half, giving the home team a 37-32 advantage with 17:14 left in the game, a lead that they would not relinquish.
Chicago State continued to built its advantage over the final 15 minuts, moving to double digits, 66-52, with 6:05 left after several minutes of fast-paced offense by both clubs, including several high-flying dunks by Cooper.
From there Chicago State’s offense continued to roll, recording the 79-61 win.
