A glance at the Mid-American Conference Tournament

Sunday's first round results
No. 9 Ohio 85,
No. 8 Ball State* 77 (OT)

No. 5 Buffalo* 72,
No. 12 Toledo 54

No. 7 Western Michigan* 75,
No. 10 Bowling Green 73

No. 6 Eastern Michigan* 65,
No. 11 Northern Illinois 59
*home team

Thursday's quarterfinals matchups
No. 2 CMU vs. No. 7 Western Michigan, noon
No. 3 Akron vs. No. 6 Eastern Michigan, 2:30 p.m.
No. 1 Kent State vs. No. 9 Ohio, 7 p.m.
No. 4 Miami vs. No. 5 Buffalo, 9 p.m.

Friday's schedule
7 p.m.: Semifinal No. 1
9 p.m.: Semifinal No. 2

Saturday's schedule
6 p.m.: Championship game (ESPN2)

CMU earns second consecutive MAC West crown (with video)

Photos and my experimental video from Thursday, March 4, 2010, after CMU clinched its second consecutive MAC West crown and a No. 2 seed in the Mid-American Conference Tournament in Cleveland with a 56-55 win against Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti.

Above, the team celebrates at centercourt at the Convocation Center after EMU missed a halfcourt shot at the buzzer (Photo by Lynn Monson). Right, senior guard Jordan Bitzer shoots over EMU's Justin Dobbins in the second half. He made the 3-pointer, three of his 18 points (Photo by Daniel Monson).

The Chippewas will play No. 7 Western Michigan in the quarterfinals at noon Thursday at Quicken Loans Arena.

Stay posted for a preview blog post and on cm-life.com for a full story.

Scouting Eastern Michigan for tonight's game

Eastern Michigan at Central Michigan, 7 tonight at Rose Arena
Scouting Eastern Michigan
Current record: 9-7, 1-2 MAC
Last season: 8-24, 6-10 MAC; 4th West; lost to CMU in MAC first round
Coach: Charles Ramsey, fifth year (51-88)
Watch out for: EMU’s upperclassman trio of senior guard Carlos Medlock (6-foot), junior forward Brandon Bowdry (6-foot-6) and senior forward Justin Dobbins. Medlock’s additional responsibilities include assists (3.6 per game) and steals (1.7), in which categories he ranks seventh. Bowdry (18.2 per game) and Medlock (15.2) rank third and fourth in scoring, respectively, while Bowdry leads the conference in rebounding (10.6). The 6-foot-8 Dobbins has been limited by a leg injury this season, missing seven games, but returned Jan. 13 and scored 18 points against Toledo.
Last MAC tournament title: 1998
Last NCAA tournament appearance: 1998

CMU 53, Ball State 38: CMU sets school record for least points allowed to MAC opponent

CMU started its Mid-American conference schedule 2-0 for the first time in 18 years Wednesday with a 53-38 win against Ball State at Rose Arena. This team's defense is what sets it apart from a lot of teams in the MAC and for the second consecutive game, it made the difference. The amount of swarming defense down low stifled the Cardinals' Jarrod Jones, last year's MAC freshman of the year and counterpart Malik Perry, who fouled out late in the game after not scoring and not grabbing a rebound.

CMU next heads to Western Michigan, where it tries to win in Kalamazoo for the second consecutive season for the first time in school history.

CMU opens home MAC schedule against Ball State tonight

Here's a link to my preview story in today's Central Michigan Life. Game time is 7 p.m. at a Rose Arena that is being renovated and does not have any bleachers on the north side in preparation for the wall being knocked down by the end of the month.