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MAC West Mid-Week Report

MAC basketball mid-week recap from March 5, 2009

Western Michigan 84, Ball State 82 (OT)

Western Michigan moved back into a tie atop the MAC West standings with a thrilling overtime victory against Ball State on Wednesday night. Once again junior guard David Kool made the big play for the Broncos (10-19, 7-8 MAC), going the length of the court in the final possession of regulation to hit a 15 foot jumper with one second left that knotted the score at 71-71. Kool finished the deal in OT with nine more points to boost his game total to 22 on the night. Yet, Kool’s performance wasn’t even the best on his own team with fellow guard Shawntes Gary dropping 21 of his own in the first half and finishing off the night with a game-high 27 points on 9 of 17 shooting including 4 of 5 from behind the arc. As usual freshman forward Jarrod Jones and senior guard Brandon Lampley carried the Cardinals (13 -15, 7-8 MAC) all night with 20 and 19 points, respectively. The game appeared to be all, but over at the half with WMU holding a 38-24 lead after limiting BSU to an ugly 31.0% shooting mark in the first 20 minutes. The coaching staff must have got onto the Cardinals in the lockers because the entire team was unstoppable in the second half putting on a clinic by shooting 57.1% from the floor. After tying the game up at 61 on a Mo Hubbard jumper Ball State continued their surge forward and looked to have the game wrapped up at 70-64 with 53 seconds left before a Derek Drews three and a pair of buckets by Kool forced an improbable extra session. After going down by eight early in overtime the Cardinals battled back to within one point at 81-80 with 22 seconds left to play, but solid free-throw shooting by WMU and missed shots by Lampely and guard Laron Frazier sealed the deal for the Broncos.

Eastern Michigan 75, Northern Illinois 61

Eastern Michigan pulled themselves out of last place in the MAC West Wednesday night, defeating Northern Illinois in convincing fashion. The Eagles (7-23, 5-10 MAC) have won three games in a row and the moxy they’ve shown inside the paint all year long is finally translating to success in the MAC. EMU ended up with three players in double figures at the end of the game led by junior forward Justin Dobbins and sophomore forward Brandon Bowdry who scored 20 and 19 points, respectively. Sophomore guard Darion Anderson led the Huskies (10-18, 5-10 MAC) with another strong performance scoring a game-high 24 points including a 12 of 15 mark from the charity stripe. The Eagles held a 38-23 advantage at halftime and never faced a legitimate run by the Huskies who remained down by at least 14 points throughout the second half. Freshman guard Mike DiNunno had a bit of an off night for NIU scoring 12 points, but on only 4 of 13 shooting from the floor. The Eagles and Huskies are now tied for fourth place in the MAC West at 5-10 in conference and each squad holds a home win over the other.

Central Michigan 59, Toledo 44

Central Michigan ended its 12 game losing streak to Toledo on Wednesday night with a dominating performance at home. Senior forward Marcus Van scored a game-high 16 points and led the Chippewas to a massive 34-8 scoring advantage in the paint. Senior guard Tyrone Kent and sophomore center Justin Anyijong both scored 14 points for the Rockets in the defeat. CMU held Toledo to just 28.9% shooting from the floor with a defense that forced 17 turnovers and gave up just 11 total field goals on the night. The Chippewas took a 26-20 lead into the lockers, but faced a strong 15-7 run by the Rockets in the first five minutes of the second half. After grabbing a 35-33 lead at the 14:53 mark Toledo as a team managed to score just nine points the rest of the game. CMU also got strong performances from sophomore guard Antonio Weary and junior guard Jordan Bitzer who contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively. Toledo senior guard Jonathan Amos performed another one of his patented disappearing acts scoring just four points on 0 of 5 shooting from the floor in 35 minutes of action.

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MAC West Weekend Watch

Western Michigan vs. Central Michigan (Sunday, 2:00 p.m. EST)

Western Michigan will look to remain atop the MAC West standings when they host rival Central Michigan Sunday afternoon in Kalamazoo. The Broncos guard combo of David Kool and Shawntes Gary are averaging 18.1 and 10.6 ppg and will look to attack the Chippewas from the perimeter throughout the game. Central Michigan will look to ride a strong scoring and rebounding performance from forward Marcus Van who has been a beast inside throughout conference play. I think CMU is capable of winning this road game, but I expect Kool to have another very strong game and I have a feeling that forward Derek Drews will be working hard in the paint to neutralize Van and propel the Broncos to victory.

Ball State vs. Eastern Michigan (Sunday, 2:00 p.m. EST)

Ball State will look to put a stop to Eastern Michigan’s surprising three game win streak when they host the Eagles Sunday afternoon. The game should feature one of the premier inside match-ups of the season with BSU freshman forwards Jarrod Jones and Mo Hubbard battling against EMU’s sophomore forward Brandon Bowdry and junior forward Justin Dobbins. The Eagles have been playing their best ball lately while the Cardinals are coming off of a heart-breaking overtime loss at WMU. This combination may provide EMU with one of its best chances of the season to spring a huge road upset. But with a share of the MAC West title on the line at home I think BSU will close the regular season with a win.

Toledo vs. Northern Illinois (Sunday, 2:00 p.m. EST)

Toledo will try to end the regular season on a high note Sunday afternoon when they face-off against Northern Illinois at home. The Rockets can’t afford for senior guard Jonathan Amos to go scoreless from the field in a repeat of his recent performance at Eastern Michigan. The game promises to be a battle of the guards with NIU relying on strong play from freshman Mike DiNunno and sophomore Darion Anderson while Toledo will lean on senior Tyrone Kent as well as Amos. The game may be decided by which team can establish their up and coming sophomore forward in the paint when NIU’s Sean Kowal matches-up with UT’s Justin Anyijong. Kowal is averaging 9.8 ppg while Anyijong is averaging 9.3 ppg; both have become team assets as additional scoring threats for their squads during the course of the season. I think Toledo will come away with the win Sunday mostly because of how much better they seem to perform as a team when playing in their own building.

By Damian Caudill
VanDelay Sports Staff Writer
Published March 5, 2009