Breaking down this box score would be tantamount to picking at a scab. Which I bet, at times, was a more interesting hobby than watching these two teams shoot.
You can call it a "defensive struggle" all you want, but what really ices the cake is the Eastern Echo's video highlights, which began as a series of missed shots and defensive rebounds. At first I thought the whole video was going to be that, which would have been PERFECT, but they finally they began splicing in made buckets.
EMU coach Charles Ramsey is allowed to joke about this, because his team scored 41 and won:
Dr. Naismith is probably rolling in his grave, because we set that game back to peach basket days.
There really weren't many, if any, terrific offensive performances. Brandon Bowdry was limited to just six points (15.2 below his average) and eight rebounds. The best game was probably Derek Thomson, who finished with 11 points (on 4-of-9 shooting) and five rebounds. Jamell Harris did have a great defensive game with eight rebounds and five blocks.
For CMU, Andre Coimbra was their savior, who finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds (five offensive), to go with five blocks and just one turnover. He did foul out, which tends to be a problem in sports. Trey Zeigler's 5-for-18 shooting (most of the tries were twos) netted him only 13 points, but he did manage to chase down five steals. And the good news is that Jalin Thomas, who missed his second straight match with an injury sustained against WMU, might be back for the Chips' next game.
The worst number was the attendance: 1,076 is the highest MAC crowd for an Eastern home game this year. What a day to have it happen. I wonder how many of those fans will be coming back for the next one.
Central and Eastern both need to regroup. They are both 2-3, tied with Northern Illinois for third in the MAC West, and while catching Ball State seems a little daunting, neither are out of it, provided both coaches can find a way to have their teams forget about this one.
Oh, and: Kent State 78, Miami 57 — A nice little blowout for the Flashes. Randal Holt finished with 22 points and had 14 fewer turnovers than the RedHawks, and that's pretty much all needed to absorb from this game. Both are now at 3-2 in the league, and if KSU keeps going down this path, they'll ascend back to the top of the division and normalcy will begin to permeate our brains.