Eastern Michigan Athletics
Tuesday, March 8
Akron, Ohio
7 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
9-22
53
at
67
Akron
20-12
1
2
F
Eastern Michigan
22
31
53
Akron
31
36
67
Men’s Basketball Team Falls to Akron in MAC Tourney Opener
3/8/2011 9:11:52 PM | Men's Basketball
Bowdry and Sims lead the Eagles with 14 and 12
Box score.
AKRON, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – A hard-fought effort by the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team fell just short as the host University of Akron handed the Eagles a 67-53 setback here Tuesday, March 8, in Rhodes Arena in the first round of the 2011 FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Eagles rallied late in the game to cut Akron's lead to six with just five minutes left, but the Green and White would not get any closer in the final stages to suffer their second straight MAC Tournament loss to the Zips. Akron knocked Eastern out of the 2010 tournament on a double-overtime decision.
The loss ended EMU's season with a 9-22 record while Akron improved to 20-12. The Zips will face Miami in a MAC Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday, March 10.
Senior Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) closed out a brilliant career with 14 points and eight rebounds while sophomore guard J.R. Sims (Ft. Wayne, Ind.-Snider) scored 12.
Akron had four players in double figures, led by Nikola Cvetkinovic with 13, Brett McKnight 11, and Steve McNees and Darryl Roberts with 10 each.
Akron was shoot 48.9 percent from the field, hitting 23-of-47 shots while EMU made just 37.3 percent, connecting on 19-of-51 attempts. The Eagles made just 11-of-23 free throw attempts for 47.8 percent while the home squad hit 17-of-23 for 73.9 percent.
Eastern opened the scoring with five quick points on a layup by Bowdry and a triple from Sims.
Sims would come right back with his second three of the game to put the Eagles up 9-5, at the 16:07 mark before the Zips cut it back to three at 9-6 at the first media timeout.
McNees would follow with a long triple from the right corner and Alex Abreu added a driving layup to boost the Zips to a 14-9 lead heading into the second media timeout at the 11:45 mark.
The Eagles would go cold from the outside while the Zips were heating up, building their advantage to 12, 23-11, with 8:41 remaining in the first half.
Sims would hit a jumper in the lane to cut it to seven, 29-22, with just 1:29 left, but Cvetkinovic would close out the half with a layup with just four ticks left for a 31-22 Akron lead.
The Eagles would come out of the locker room to start the second half with a bang, with Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) hitting a layup followed by a Sims layup to trim the deficit to just five, 33-28, with 17:04 left.
Akron would build its lead back to 12, but once again the Eagles came roaring back, cutting it to six, 45-39, on a three-point goal by Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Inkster) with 11:26 left.
Kamil Janton (Tarnow, Poland-Chicago Bartlett) would score on a layup with 5:09 left in the game to cut the Akron lead to six, 54-48, but Brett McClanahan would connect on a three followed by a fast-break layup from Roberts to up the home team's lead to 11, 59-48.
Eastern could not recover from that onslaught as Akron recorded the 67-53 victory.
AKRON, Ohio (EMUEagles.com) – A hard-fought effort by the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team fell just short as the host University of Akron handed the Eagles a 67-53 setback here Tuesday, March 8, in Rhodes Arena in the first round of the 2011 FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Eagles rallied late in the game to cut Akron's lead to six with just five minutes left, but the Green and White would not get any closer in the final stages to suffer their second straight MAC Tournament loss to the Zips. Akron knocked Eastern out of the 2010 tournament on a double-overtime decision.
The loss ended EMU's season with a 9-22 record while Akron improved to 20-12. The Zips will face Miami in a MAC Tournament quarterfinal game Thursday, March 10.
Senior Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) closed out a brilliant career with 14 points and eight rebounds while sophomore guard J.R. Sims (Ft. Wayne, Ind.-Snider) scored 12.
Akron had four players in double figures, led by Nikola Cvetkinovic with 13, Brett McKnight 11, and Steve McNees and Darryl Roberts with 10 each.
Akron was shoot 48.9 percent from the field, hitting 23-of-47 shots while EMU made just 37.3 percent, connecting on 19-of-51 attempts. The Eagles made just 11-of-23 free throw attempts for 47.8 percent while the home squad hit 17-of-23 for 73.9 percent.
Eastern opened the scoring with five quick points on a layup by Bowdry and a triple from Sims.
Sims would come right back with his second three of the game to put the Eagles up 9-5, at the 16:07 mark before the Zips cut it back to three at 9-6 at the first media timeout.
McNees would follow with a long triple from the right corner and Alex Abreu added a driving layup to boost the Zips to a 14-9 lead heading into the second media timeout at the 11:45 mark.
The Eagles would go cold from the outside while the Zips were heating up, building their advantage to 12, 23-11, with 8:41 remaining in the first half.
Sims would hit a jumper in the lane to cut it to seven, 29-22, with just 1:29 left, but Cvetkinovic would close out the half with a layup with just four ticks left for a 31-22 Akron lead.
The Eagles would come out of the locker room to start the second half with a bang, with Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) hitting a layup followed by a Sims layup to trim the deficit to just five, 33-28, with 17:04 left.
Akron would build its lead back to 12, but once again the Eagles came roaring back, cutting it to six, 45-39, on a three-point goal by Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Inkster) with 11:26 left.
Kamil Janton (Tarnow, Poland-Chicago Bartlett) would score on a layup with 5:09 left in the game to cut the Akron lead to six, 54-48, but Brett McClanahan would connect on a three followed by a fast-break layup from Roberts to up the home team's lead to 11, 59-48.
Eastern could not recover from that onslaught as Akron recorded the 67-53 victory.
Team Stats
EMU
AKRON
FG%
.373
.489
3FG%
.160
.500
FT%
.478
.739
RB
31
33
TO
13
12
STL
5
4
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
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