Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Idaho
Eagles Upended by Hot-Shooting Vandals
12/5/2010 11:35:32 AM | Men's Basketball
Brandon Bowdry earns All-Tournament honors notching tourney highs with 22.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest
Box score.
MOSCOW, Idaho (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team was unable to pick up a victory in the team's final game of the Basketball Travelers Classic in Moscow, Idaho, falling 75-60 to the host school University of Idaho Vandals, Sunday night, Dec. 5, in War Memorial Gymnasium.
The Eagles fall to 1-6 with the loss while the Vandals improve to 5-3.
Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman once again led the Eagles with 17 points and six rebounds, but foul trouble forced the Eagles' top scorer and rebounder to the bench for key moments in the second half. Derek Thompson (Detroit, Mich.-Melvindale-Southeast Missouri State) also came alive for the Eagles, notching a career-best scoring performance for EMU, scoring 15 points and connecting on four of his first five shots from three-point range.
Adrian Burton (Detroit, Mich.-Cooley-Kankakee (Ill.) C.C.), who started his second consecutive game at point guard, poured in 10 points with four assists in 27 minutes of action.
The Eagles were able to take a quick 7-2 advantage in the first four minutes of the game by scoring in various different ways. Bowdry scored from inside and outside, hitting a mid-range jumper and a three pointer, sophomore center Matt Balkema (Warren Mich.-Cousino) scored down low on a turnaround layup, and Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Robichaud) made two free throws.
The Vandals quickly responded, however, as solid shooting would help the home team take an 18-16 advantage. UI was able to increase the advantage to 12 points, 34-22, over the next six minutes thanks to hot shooting. The Vandals shot 54 percent (13-of-24) in the opening frame, and while the Eagles were hot themselves (shooting 11-of-20 for 55 percent) but committed nine turnovers which led to 11 Idaho points, putting the home team in position to take a 38-29 halftime advantage.
In the second half, Burton fueled the Eagles way to another good start, assisting on a Bowdry layup then immediately stealing the inbound pass for a layup of his own. A two-handed dunk by Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) would close the gap to five, 40-35, with 17:44 left in the game.
Idaho's pinpoint shooting didn't slow down, however, as the Vandals would reel off the next eight points to extend the lead to 13, 48-35. From that point, the Eagles were never able to pull within more than eight (57-49) as UI again shot 50 percent from the field in the second half and only turned the ball over four times in securing the win.
For the game, EMU shot a season-best 46.7 percent from the field (21-of-45), including 41 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-17), but also allowed the opposition to shoot 52 percent (26-of-50) from the field and 57 percent (8-of-14) from deep.
The Vandals were led by sophomore center Kyle Barone with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Jeff Ledbetter scored 12 and Shawn Henderson had 11 points, seven boards and five assists.
For his efforts throughout the three-day tournament, Bowdry was named to the All-Basketball Travelers Classic Team. In the three games, the senior forward averaged 22.3 points and 8.3 rebounds, both tournament-highs, and narrowly missed garnering the tournament's Most Valuable Player honors, which was awarded to Idaho's Deremy Geiger.
The Eagles will return home to the Convocation Center for back-to-back home contests against Drake on Wednesday, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m., and Detroit on Saturday Dec. 11 at 2 p.m.
