EMU Rally Falls Short in 68-63 Loss at Bowling Green

Box score.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team fell, 68-63, to Bowling Green State University here Saturday afternoon, Jan. 29, 2011, in Anderson Arena in a Mid-American Conference cross-divisional game.

The loss drops EMU to 2-5 in MAC action and 5-15 overall while the Falcons improve to 5-2 in the league and 11-11 overall.

EMU senior forward Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) turned in the 33rd double-double of his career with 24 points and 15 rebounds while senior forward Jay Higgins (Fayetteville, N.C.-IMG Academy-Hillsborough J.C.) added a season-best 15 points, including 4-of-6 three-point shots.

Bowling Green was led by Scott Thomas with 16 point while Jordan Crawford added 14 and Dee Brown chipped in 11.

Eastern shot 39.2 percent from the field, hitting 20-of-51 shots while shooting 40.9 percent from beyond the arc, making 9-of-22.

Bowling Green connected on 26-of-51 field goal attempts for 51 percent while making 5-of-14 triples for 35.7 percent. The Falcons held a slim, 34-32, rebound edge.

Eastern opened the game with a flurry, racing to a 12-2, in the first three minutes, with Higgins hitting two long threes and Bowdry chipping in six on two field goals and two free throws.

The Falcons would claw back to tie the game at 17-all on a long jumper from the left side of the basket by Scott Thomas at the 10:36 mark of the half.

Bowling Green would gain its first lead of the half on two free throws by A'ustin Calhoun with 1:17 left and the Falcons would head into intermission with a 34-31 advantage.

Both teams went to their long-range offense early, trading threes through most of the half with EMU connecting on 7-of-10 triples, with Higgins hitting four while BG would make 4-of-10 threes.

Higgins finished the first half with 12 points while Jordan Crawford came off the B.G. bench to score 12.

Bowling Green would open the second half by stretching its lead to six. 41-35, but Bowdry would answer on an old-fashioned three-point play, making it 41-38.

Eastern would fight back to make it a one-point deficit, with Bowdry connecting on a jumper at the 8:05 mark to make it 55-54.

Bowling Green would then go on a seven-point run to forge a 62-54 lead with four minutes left .

The Eagles would not be denied, however, rallying to cut the Falcons lead to four, 67-63, with 12.2 seconds left on two free throws by Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Dearborn Heights Robichaud), but the Eagles could not get any closer.

Eastern wil continue in MAC cross-divisional action Wednesday, Feb. 2, in a home game against the University of Akron. Game time is set for 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center.

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Team Stats

Brandon Bowdry

Jay Higgins

J.R. Sims

Antonio Green

Eastern Michigan Athletics