Men’s basketball hosts rival Eastern Michigan after loss

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The CMU men’s basketball team expects a physical game tonight at Rose Arena.

The Chippewas face in-state conference rival Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. in their fourth Mid-American Conference game of the season.

“It’s probably going to be a war out there,” said senior forward Chris Kellermann. “(Justin) Dobbins and (Brandon) Bowdry, they are both big guys and go to the boards hard.”

The Eagles are led by junior forward Bowdry (6-foot-6, 235 pounds), who ranks third in the MAC in scoring (18.2) and leads the conference in rebounding, averaging 10.6 per game.

“It’s very difficult to stop a player of his ability,” said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler. “You just want to slow him down; you want to try to make him work for every shot and make him take contested shots. That’s the biggest thing we’ve talked about is not giving up uncontested shots.”

EMU also has the conference’s fourth-highest scorer in Carlos Medlock (6-foot senior guard), who averages 15.2 points per game.

“Medlock arguably is the best point guard in the conference,” Zeigler said. “He can score from the outside but, at the same time, does a great job of penetrating and making plays for himself.”

Medlock has hit 75-of-89 (84.3 percent) of his free-throw attempts this season.

Dobbins (6-foot-8 senior forward) also averages in double figure this season (10.4).

CMU lost its two regular season games against the Eagles last season, but defeated them in the first round of the MAC Tournament. In the Eagles’ two regular-season wins against CMU, one came in double overtime and the other was by a single point.

The teams also close out their MAC schedules when they play each other March 4 in Ypsilanti.

Rebounding and shooting

Zeigler said rebounding could be the difference in tonight’s game. CMU was outrebounded by Western Michigan 39-33 in the team’s 70-61 loss Saturday in Kalamazoo. In the team’s two MAC wins, it outrebounded its opponent.

CMU also is looking to shoot better in tonight’s game. The only MAC game the Chippewas have shot better than 40 percent was the conference opener against Toledo (43.8 percent). Kellermann said the team did some extra shooting Monday morning and night, outside of normal practice.

CMU (7-8, 2-1 MAC) hosts MAC West-leading Northern Illinois at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Rose Arena.