Eagles Host Georgia State in BracketBuster Event Saturday

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EAGLES HOST GEORGIA STATE IN FIRST-EVER MEETING: The EMU men's basketball team will host Georgia State Saturday, Feb. 21, in its sixth appearance in the BracketBuster event. The Eagles have a 4-1 record in BracketBuster games, including an 86-82 home win over Southeast Missouri State, Feb. 23, 2008, in the Convocation Center. The first Bracketbuster game for the Eagles was at Cleveland State, Feb. 21, 2004, and Eastern recorded an 87-66 victory. Eastern then played Feb. 19, 2005, at Youngstown State and dropped a 74-60 decision before bouncing back with a 65-50 road win, Feb. 18, 2006, at Eastern Illinois. Eastern hosted Manhattan, Feb. 17, 2007, and recorded a 65-51 win followed by last year's victory.

BOWDRY ON THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Redshirt sophomore Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) turned in the fourth double-double of the season and the fifth of his career with 15 points and 12 rebounds to help EMU record a 65-57 win at Bowling Green Sunday, Feb. 15. Bowdry has scored in double figures 37 times and has had double-figure rebound games six times during his 58-game EMU career.

HALL OF FAME DAY: The E-Club will honor five former Eastern Michigan University athletic standouts Saturday, Feb. 21, in the 33rd annual Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony. The Class of 2008 includes: Joy (Inniss) Johnson-women's track, Lindell Reason-men's basketball, Jeff Reaume-men's golf, Sarah Willis-women's soccer, and Chuck Wilson-men's track. The Hall of Fame ceremony and luncheon will be held at the EMU Student Center beginning at 10:30 a.m. The Class of 2008 will be introduced between the EMU women's basketball game against Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. and the EMU men's hoops contest against Georgia State at approximately 4 p.m. Tickets for the Hall of Fame ceremony, are $45 each and can be purchased by calling the EMU Athletics Department at 734.487.8236.

FOR THE 112th TIME: The 2008-09 season is the 112th of intercollegiate basketball for the Eastern Michigan University Eagles. Eastern played its first season in 1897-98 and split games with Detroit, losing a 2-0 decision before coming back for a 4-0 victory. The 2008-09 season will also be the 35th for the Eagles in 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 the league. 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 tournament title in 1997-98.

EMU AND GEORGIA STATE: EMU enters Saturday's, Feb. 21, non-conference BracketBuster game with a 4-22 overall record and a 2-10 Mid-American Conference mark. The Eagles came up with a big road win at Bowling Green Sunday, Feb. 5, recording a 65-57 victory. EMU then traveled to Kalamazoo, Wednesday, Feb. 18, and lost a hard-fought 46-38 MAC West Division game to the Western Michigan University Broncos. Redshirt sophomore Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) turned in his fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds against Bowling Green and came back with 13 points and seven rebounds in the loss at WMU. Bowdry continues to lead the Eagles in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.0 rpg).
The Panthers of Georgia State are a member of the Colonial Athletic Association and are currently 6-16 overall and 4-7 in the CAA. The EMU-GSU matchup will be the first men's basketball game between the schools. EMU is 1-1 all-time versus the Richmond, Va. based conference. EMU defeated Old Dominion, 79-78, in the first round of the Carrier Classic in Syracuse, N.Y., Dec. 13, 1996. The then-Hurons fell to UNC Wilmington, 68-64, in the opening round contest of the Indiana Classic, Dec. 11, 1982, in EMU's only other meeting with a CAA member.
Georgia State enters the BracketBuster contest with a 9-18 overall record and a 7-9 Colonial Athletic Association record. The Panthers are coming off two straight CAA wins, a 69-66 home decision, Feb. 14, against UNC-Wilmington followed by an impressive 70-68 win at Northeastern, Feb. 18. Georgia State is led by 6-foot-1 junior guard Joe Dukes at 13.0 points a game. Also averaging in double figures for the Panthers is Dukes' back-court partner, 6-foot Trae Goldston at 11.3 ppg.

THE SERIES: EMU and Georgia State will be meeting for the first time.

BOWDRY HITS 19 STRAIGHT: EMU redshirt sophomore Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) continues to shoulder the scoring load for the Eagles, turning in 19 consecutive double-figure scoring performances. The 6-foot-6 Bowdry has scored in double figures 24 times this season. He has led the team in scoring 19 times this season and has been the top rebounder in 15 games. He recorded his fourth double-double of the season and fifth in his career with 15 points and 12 rebounds at Bowling Green Sunday, Feb. 15.

PASSING THE 700 MARK: Junior center Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) is the 56th player in school history to reach the 700-point plateau. Dobbins has played in 82 games, 67 as a starter, and has scored 704 points to tie Dan Hoff for 54th in EMU history and his 373 rebounds is good for 46th place.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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