Central Michigan Life

Issue date: 3/12/08 Section: Sports

Sophomore forward Marko Spica, middle, fights for a rebound in CMU's Feb. 12 loss to Kent State at Rose Arena. The Golden Flashes are the No. 1 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament. [Click to enlarge]

Four wins stand between the men's basketball team and the NCAA Tournament.

Central, a No. 6 seed, begins its bid at 3 p.m. today against Northern Illinois, a No. 11 seed, in the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

"Any college player's dream is to make it to the NCAA Tournament," said sophomore guard Jordan Bitzer. "Anybody can beat anybody on any night - it's championship week. We just have to go in with the mindset to take care of Northern Illinois first and then we'll go from there."

NIU is the only MAC team Central beat twice during the regular season. CMU won 77-63 on Jan. 19 at Rose Arena and 80-73 on March 1 in DeKalb, Ill. Still, Bitzer said CMU is wary of the Huskies and star freshman guard Darion Anderson.

"The main thing they like to do is drive - all their guys can drive from the perimeter," he said. "The biggest thing we have to do is to level off drives and make them take contested jump shots. I think if we can take away their sets and keep them out of the lane and take care of things on the offensive lane, we'll be in good shape."

Anderson, who averages 11.9 points per game and 5. 1 rebounds, is the leading candidate for MAC Freshman of the Year honors.

"He's an extremely gifted athlete," said CMU coach Ernie Zeigler. "He has a quick first step and he puts a lot of pressure on your defense to not let him get in the lane. And he can step back and hit the three."

NIU (6-21 overall, 5-7 MAC) lost its last four games of the season after winning at Akron 88-78 on Feb. 12. Anderson scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds.

The winner of today's game plays No. 3 seed Akron (21-9, 11-5 MAC) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

"It's a great opportunity," said senior guard Giordan Watson. "But also we know we have enough talent and experience to go ahead and win the four games in a row. We have everything it takes. It's just about coming in focused for 40 minutes against Northern Illinois."

Continued...

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