Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Western Michigan
Men's Basketball Drops Low-Scoring Tilt at WMU
2/18/2009 9:45:18 PM | Men's Basketball
Eagles suffer poor shooting night in 46-38 setback
Box score.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — A spirited second-half rally fell just short for the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team here Wednesday night, Feb. 18, in a Mid-American Conference West Division battle with the Western Michigan University Broncos in University Arena.
Eastern came back from a horrid first-half that saw the Eagles make just 6-of-24 field-goal attempts (25.0 percent) to cut it to one point late in the game, but the Eagles went six minutes without a score at the end of the game and dropped a 46-38 decision.
After trailing by a 27-15 halftime deficit the Eagles began to sneak back into the contest in the early stages of the second half. L.J. Frazier (Ypsilanti, Mich.-Ypsilanti) connected on back-to-back threes to cut the lead to three, 37-34, with 9:38 left and Wendale Farrow (Sacramento, Calif.-Mira Loma-American River J.C.) added a layup to make it a one-point game, 37-36, at the 6:41 mark. EMU failed to score from that point to the 33.1-second mark while Western tallied 10 and that was the difference in the game.
Eastern had a huge advantage on the boards, grabbing 33 caroms to just 21 for the Broncos, but Western connected on 46.2 percent of its field goals (18-of-39) while Eastern was making just 30.4 percent (14-of-46).
The loss leaves Eastern with a 4-22 overall record and a 2-10 MAC mark while Western improves to 9-16 overall and 6-6 in the league.
Eastern was led by redshirt sophomore Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) with 13 points and seven rebounds while junior center Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) hauled down 12 rebounds. Guard David Kool paced the Broncos in scoring with 19 while Shawntes Gary added 10.
The Eagles opened the game with a quick 6-0 lead after Frazier and Bowdry both hit three-point field goals.
The Broncos chipped away at that advantage over the next few minutes to go up by two, 8-6, but the Eagles responded by taking an 11-8 lead on a layup and free throw by senior at the 12:02 mark.
Western bounced back with some timely shooting a tough defense to score the next 14 unanswered points to go on top, 20-11 before Farrow stopped the bleeding with a short jumper and Dobbins added a layup to make it 22-15 with 1:12 left in the half.
WMU would go on to score the final five points of the half to enter halftime with a 27-15 lead. The Broncos connected on 12-of-22 field goals in the first half for 54.5 percent while EMU was shooting 25 percent. The Eagles did manage to win the first-half battle of the boards, however, snatching 17 to 11 for the Broncos.
Bowdry jump started the Eagles in the first five minutes of the second half, scoring seven points with Tyler Jones (Belleville, Mich.-Belleville) adding a three to make it 34-25 at the 15:25 mark.
