Eastern Michigan 57, CMU 56 - Feb. 28, 2009

EMU wins 57-56 and stuns the Rose Arena crowd. I've never heard this place so eery.

Robbie Harman had a seemingly good look from underneath the basket when CMU got the ball down one with 9.7 seconds remaining. But his shot fell short and a scramble ensued in the middle of the lane as time ran out. Some pushing and shoving between Harman and some EMU players occurred as well, but it did not escalate further.

Ernie Zeigler threw his hands over his head and walked down the sideline after Jordan Bitzer was called for a foul on a 3-point attempt by EMU freshman Antonio Green. Green pump-faked, got Bitzer up into the air and drew minimal contact.

Green made all three free throws to give EMU a 57-56 lead.

Jordan Bitzer found Marcus Van open along the baseline, and he two-hand dunked it to give CMU a 56-54 lead. Van has scored six consecutive points for CMU.

Two turnaround jumpers by senior Marcus Van tied the Eagles at 54 after EMU went 3-of-5 from the free throw line.

EMU's Zane Gay made a 3-pointer off the glass to give the Eagles a 51-50 lead.

Freshman guard Adrian Hunter made a 3-pointer with less than 10 seconds left in the half to give the Chippewas the lead. He's had to take most of the playing time at point guard after junior Robbie Harman picked up two early fouls. Hunter has six points, which came on two 3-pointers.

Senior forward Marcus Van is having a lot better night than he did Wednesday at Ball State, scoring 10 points. He had none against the Cardinals and fouled out.

EMU sophomore Brandon Bowdry is having a solid night as well, totaling 8 points to lead the Eagles.

It's a pretty evenly-matched and clean game so far, with both teams only committing seven team fouls. EMU has five turnovers while CMU has four.

CMU sophomore Antonio Weary came out right before halftime with an apparent shoulder injury after getting fouled hard on a drive to the basket. It looked like an EMU defender landed right on it. But Weary returned to start the second half and looked fine, scoring CMU's first basket of the half on an offensive rebound putback and drew a foul.

Live blog from Muncie, Ind.

I'm here at Worthen Arena on the campus of Ball State University for tonight's men's game.

I'll be posting photos ( point-and-shoot quality) and updates periodically throughout tonight's contest.




BSU leads 47-42 with 52.6 seconds remaining. The only reason CMU is still in this one is because of junior guard Robbie Harman's 19 second-half points.


Robbie Harman is on fire.

The junior guard has 10 of CMU's 12 points in the second half as BSU leads 32-26 with 14 minutes left.

On another note, the referees are atrocious — and it goes both ways. Antonio Weary picked up 4 fouls in 1:03 to start the half on a charging foul, a reach, a technical foul and another ticky-tack reach-in.


Here's some scene-setting photos from before the game.
Football coach Stan Parrish waves to the crowd before the game:

The national anthem:

The opening tip:




It's 16-14 with 3:45 left in the first half. Refs are letting them play, but offense is hard to come by in this one. Both teams are having trouble getting off shots because of the defensive pressure.

Ball State closed the half on a 9-0 run and holds a 25-14 lead as CMU was unable to score in the half's last 4:53. CMU's point total matched its season low of 14, set on the road against Akron on Jan. 31. CMU trailed 28-14 at the half of that game and eventually lost 64-43. This game is eerily similar to the first half of that one, although CMU is shooting 6 percent better percentage (38.9 percent vs. 32.3) and is instead having trouble even getting shots off. The Chippewas did not shoot a free throw in the first half, either, while Ball State went 4-for-4. The referees are not giving them respect down low, as Marcus Van has been called for traveling multiple times after being body-checked.

Not many 3-pointers have been shot either. BSU is 1-for-2 and CMU is 0-for-2, one of those a Jordan Bitzer shot that missed everything.

Halftime Stats: Ball State 25, CMU 14
BSU CMU
10-22 (45.5%) FG 7-18 (38.9%)
6 Turnovers 12

CMU scorers:
Hardiman 6
Allen 4
Harman 2
Bitzer 2

BSU:
Brandon Lampely 7
Laron Frazier 6
Eric Wormely 2
M. Hubbard 4
Jarrod Jones 4
Malik Perry 2