Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Temple
Basketball Suffers 67-45 Setback Against Temple
1/7/2009 8:20:25 PM | Men's Basketball
Offensive woes plague Eagles in final non-conference game
Box score
Click Here to watch Coach Ramsey's Press Conference.
YPSILANTI, Mich.– The Eastern Michigan University basketball team concluded non-conference play here Wednesday evening, Jan. 7, with a 67-45 setback at the hands of Temple University at the Convocation Center. With the loss, the Eagles fall to 2-12 while Temple improves to 7-6.
The Eagles struggled offensively throughout the game, shooting just 20-of-58 (34.5 percent ) from the floor and 3-of-20 (15 percent) from behind the arc compared to a 26-of-48 (54.2 percent) and 9-of-18 mark for the Owls. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor, Mich.-Truman) was the only Eagle to tally double digits in the points column with 16. Temple guard Dionte Christmas led all scorers with 17 points.
EMU junior Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) managed seven rebounds in the game to lead the way in that category.
Bowdry got the scoring started with a two-point bucket at 19:22 of the first half. Over the next four minutes, the Eagles and Owls would trade leads several times. Christmas forced a turnover under the Eastern basket at the 16:07 mark of the first and shot it home to put Temple ahead, 9-6.
With 10:57 remaining, Christmas nailed a shot from beyond the arc to extend Temple's lead to seven, 19-12. The three-pointer gave Christmas 10 points to that point.
A rash of fouls in the offensive zone plagued the Eagles and hindered their scoring chances throughout much of the latter part of the half. Bowdry had already accumulated three fouls at the 2:30 mark of the opening frame.
After a short 4-0 run by the Owls, Eastern ended the half on a high-note thanks to a dunk by sophomore Will Cooper (Detroit, Mich.-Pershing-Bridgton (Maine) Adad.), to put the score at 32-23 in favor of Temple heading to the break.
Both teams went to their respective locker rooms shooting under 50 percent. Eastern went 11-of-30 (36.7 percent) from the field compared to Temple's 12-of-27 (44.4 percent) effort. Bowdry and Christmas led their respective teams in total points with 12 each. Dobbins led all players in rebounds with five. From the charity stripe, the Eagles missed on their sole opportunity, while Temple hit on four of six attempts.
The second half started off with four straight points from Bowdry which included an acrobatic reverse layup in the paint to cut the Eagle deficit to five, 32-27. Any hopes of a quick comeback would be silenced, however, as the Owls strung together seven straight points to go ahead 39-27.
An early fourth quarter foul by Bowdry gave him his fourth of the game. As a result, head coach Charles Ramsey was forced to pull him from the game with just over 16 minutes to play.
Strong defense down low kept the Eagles in the game over the following minutes despite a lack of offensive scoring. Finally, at 14:56, senior Zane Gay (Olivet, Mich.-Olivet) broke the scoring funk with his first three points of the contest. He then added a layup under the bucket at 13:27 to put his team back to within seven, 39-32.
At the halfway point of the final half, the Owls possessed a 43-34 lead. After hitting double digits in the points column early in the opening period, Christmas was completely kept off the second half scoresheet as of the 10 minute mark. He would get back on the board, however, with back-to-back two-point efforts with just over six minutes to play to bring Temple's advantage to 12, 52-38.
In the closing minutes, Temple's stranglehold on the lead became stronger as the Eagles had little answer for their offensive troubles. At the 7:06 mark, Bowdry recorded his fifth and final foul of the game. Temple ended the game on a 15-7 run to notch the win.
The Eagles will kick off Mid-American Conference play Saturday, Jan. 10 with a home game against Ball State University. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m.
