VanDelaySports.com > MAC Basketball > MAC West Basketball Report - 2009

MAC West Mid-Week Report

MAC basketball mid-week recap from February 6, 2009

Central Michigan (6-14, 3-5 MAC)

Trailing by one point with five seconds left in Tuesday night’s contest against Buffalo, Central Michigan sophomore guard Jeremy Allen missed the front end of a 1-and-1 in a critical inter-division MAC contest. Senior center Marcus Van was able to elevate for the offensive rebound, but like Allen the shot just wouldn’t fall and the Chippewas found themselves facing a heart-breaking 56-55 road defeat against the conference leading Bulls. The duo of junior guards Robbie Harman and Jordan Bitzer did their part for Central Michigan dumping in 22 and 20 points, respectively. The rest of the team managed just 13 points combined, all of which came exclusively from Jacolby Hardiman and Marcus Van. Somehow with only four total players contributing points the Chips hung tough with the Bulls going into the half down just 31-26. Bitzer caught fire mid-way through the second half scoring 11 straight points to put CMU up 45-41 with ten minutes left in the game.

Up Next: Central Michigan will be back home Saturday night for a tough contest with Bowling Green. After scoring in double-digits for three consecutive games last month Marcus Van has scored a mere 10 points in the last two games for CMU, both losses. The Chippewas are at their most competitive when they don’t rely solely on guard play from Bitzer/Harman and work the offense through Van. I don’t really believe there are any talent issues holding CMU back from being a force in the MAC West. They simply need to work on distributing shots and getting the whole team involved during each offensive possession. The game is set for a 7:00 p.m. (EST) tip.

Ball State (10-10, 5-3 MAC)

Coming off an impressive Saturday home win against Ohio, Ball State was riding high entering Wednesday night’s road game against Miami.

The Cardinals stayed competitive throughout the first half going into the locker room down 25-22 after shooting 43.5 percent from the floor. Senior guard Brandon Lampley seemed to have hit his stride dropping in eight first half points to led the contest. It was a completely different story in the second half with Miami asserting itself with a 16-3 run to put the game away at 49-31 with 5:37 left to play. The final score was 59-41 and represented a big setback for a Ball State squad that had played quite well in every conference game so far, losing only twice to CMU by 6 and BGSU by 4, both on the road. The Cardinals found themselves a victim of Miami’s slow offensive pace and 17 turnovers on a night where only Brandon Lampley managed to break into double-digits with 10 points. Ball State finished with a grand total of 6 assists on 17 buckets in the loss.

Up Next: Ball State will be back at home Saturday afternoon for a match-up with a Kent State squad riding a three game conference win streak. The game plan for Ball State is simple; work the ball inside to freshman forward Jarrod Jones and hope the team’s collective guard play matches up to the Golden Flashes do everything trio of Al Fisher, Tyree Evans, and Chris Singletary. If the Cardinals can score in the paint and control the glass they’ll have a good shot to grab win number six in conference. Being at home is an advantage for Ball State, but we’ll have to see if it’s enough to rattle the Flashes. The game is set for a 2:00 p.m. (EST) tip.

Eastern Michigan (3-19, 1-7 MAC)

Eastern Michigan extended their losing streak to six games in sickening fashion Tuesday night against visiting Akron. The Eagles jumped out to a shallow 5-2 lead before Akron exploded for 21 straight points essentially putting the game away at 23-5 with 10 minutes remaining in the first half. Brandon Bowdry put in his usual 12 point performance, but the Eagles never made much of a run, losing 78-41.

Eastern Michigan finished the game shooting just 32.7% from the field and committed a grand total of 23 turnovers. The Eagles have won just once in the last 14 games and the season is continuing a downward spiral that doesn’t appear to have any alternate ending aside from an early MAC tourney exit. The continued development of sophomore forward Brandon Bowdry looks promising for next year’s squad, but for now there’s not much left to a 2008-2009 campaign that will see the unfortunate departure of four Eagle seniors.

Up Next: Eastern Michigan will hit the road once more when they head to Athens for a match-up with Ohio. The chances for an Eagle victory in this one are extremely small, but at some point I expect a gutsy performance from a squad who’s fighting for pride more than anything. Still, this contest should be over at the half. If Eastern Michigan is going to be competitive they’re going to need DOMINATE inside performances by Brandon Bowdry and junior center Justin Dobbins. Ohio is relatively vulnerable inside and the Eagles must exploit that weakness on both sides of the ball. The game is set for a 5:00 p.m. (EST) tip.

> Check out the MAC basketball standings here @ VanDelay Sports

Toledo (4-18, 2-6 MAC) 

After the first 10 minutes of Toledo’s game against Kent State the Rockets looked poised to challenge the Golden Flashes all night long. UT held a 15-11 lead and was working the inside-out duo of sophomore forward Justin Anyijong and senior guard Tyrone Kent who had combined to drop in all 15 of the Rockets’ points. Then the wheels fell off of what has become a perpetually broken down Toledo machine. The Golden Flashes finished off the first half on a combined 30-10 run to head into the half up 41-25. Before the Rockets could even think about a second half comeback the score had inflated to 50-26 with just under 16 minutes to play. When the buzzer sounded the Rockets had lost 81-53 in a deflating team performance. Tyrone Kent continued his solid play with 17 points and six assists on the night. The Rockets also got a surprising 11 point performance from freshman guard Larry Bastfield who had been averaging just over 2 points a game before Tuesday night’s loss. Unfortunately, none of this was enough to keep UT close after another disappointing defensive performance that saw KSU shoot 56.4% on the evening.

Up Next: Things won’t get any easier for Toledo when Miami comes to town for a Saturday afternoon match-up between teams moving in opposite directions. The good news is that the Rockets have notched both of their conference wins at home this season. The bad news is that UT lacks the discipline on both sides of the ball that is synonymous with Miami basketball. I’m not sure there’s much Toledo is going to be able to do in this game to come out on top. Toledo has the raw scoring talent to put points up fast and they’ll need to very early on against the Redhawks to have a shot. One of the hardest things to do against Miami is dictate tempo, but if UT wants to win they’ll need to speed things up all day long. The game is set for a 2:30 p.m. (EST) tip.

Western Michigan (7-14, 4-4 MAC)

Western Michigan was competitive all night long in a tough 68-61 road loss to Bowling Green. The Broncos never led after being up 6-4 early on, but every time the Falcons looked to pull away WMU responded to keep it close. Junior and senior guards David Kool and Shawntes Gray put in 14 and 11 points, respectively. Neither team shot particularly well, registering 38% from the field on each side. What really allowed Bowling Green to grab the win was a 43-34 advantage on the boards that led to 16 second chance points for the Falcons. BGSU led 35-26 at halftime, but the Broncos responded with a quick 7-2 run to cut the score to 37-33. WMU never could capitalize though, ending up in too big of a hole down 59-48 with 6 minutes left. This is the third straight defeat for the Broncos, but the team has showed good defensive effort and a commitment to spreading the ball around throughout their offensive sets. I like this team to regain momentum in the next few weeks before the conference tournament begins.

Up Next: Western Michigan will be on the road again for a Sunday afternoon game against Akron. The Broncos will rely once more on strong guard play from Shawntes Gray and David Kool, but the key to the Broncos success will be establishing a competitive inside presence with senior forward Derek Drews. The inside combo of brothers Chris and Brett McKnight will offer a challenge to the Broncos, but WMU can’t afford to back off from physical play if they’re going to win the battle on the glass and ultimately the scoreboard. The game is set to for a 2:00 p.m. (EST) tip.

By Damian Caudill
VanDelay Sports Staff Writer
Published February 6, 2009