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Brandon Bowdry had 21 points and 14 rebounds in Eastern Michigan's 97-89 double overtime loss to Ohio. Below, Ronnie Steward puts up a shot in the lane. Photos by Mike Smith.

Akron went on to score the first nine points in the second session and defeat Eastern Michigan  97-89 in the second quarterfinal game of the 2010 FirstEnergy MAC Men’s Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena.

Akron (23-9) had four players foul out and suffered through a stretch of bad shooting but nonetheless was able to advance to the semifinals for the fifth consecutive year. The Zips will face Western Michigan, who defeated rival Central Michigan 69-60 in a quarterfinal game played earlier in the day.

McNees led the Zips with 18 points, 10 of which came in the two extra periods, and five Zips players scored in double figures. Hitchens added 16 while Brett McKnight tossed in13. Freshman center Zeke Marshall also netted 13 while contributing nine rebounds and six blocked shots. Darryl Roberts chipped in 10.

“I think I’m going to go back and sell stocks and bonds” Zips head coach Keith Dambrot said after the game.”It was a déjà vu of last year’s game against Toledo. It was a crazy, crazy game.”

Eastern Michigan (17-15) failed to advance to the semi-finals despite a phenomenal performance by senior guard Carlos Medlock. The Detroit native scored a career best 42 points in his final game for the Green and White. Brandon Bowdry added 21 and 14 rebounds and Jay Higgins added 12.
 
“They played an outstanding game. They were able to outlast us and make plays at the end of the game.” EMU head coach Charles Ramsey said afterwards. ‘It was a great ballgame, and someone had to lose”

The Zips squandered a six-point second half lead after Hitchens hit a jumper to make the score 69-63 with 2:27 remaining. The Eagles then scored eight straight points led by Medlock ,who hit a pair of three-pointers - the second coming with 56.5 seconds remaining in the second half to give the Eagles a 71-69 lead.

After Akron got a jumper from Brett McKnight with 38.7 seconds remaining to tie the score, EMU had a chance to win the game in regulation, but a three-pointer by Higgins from the left corner missed. Brandon Bowdry got the rebound and Marshall blocked the shot, sending the game into overtime.

In the first five minutes of OT, the Eagles opened up a 75-73 lead on a Medlock layup down the lane at the 3:48 mark. A three from Steve McNees gave Akron a one-point lead 76-75 at the 2:40 mark.

Medlock hit a pair of charity tosses to give EMU a 78-77 lead before Darryl Roberts knocked down a free throw to tie the score at 78-78.

Just eight seconds remained when Higgins hit a three from the left side of the arc to give EMU an 81-78 lead. Akron inbounded the ball with no timeouts remaining, and McNees rushed down court to hit a game-tying three with 0.7 seconds left.

“I knew I had to get it up as quick as I could. We had no time outs.” McNees said.
“We’re not going home. I was happy to hit it for my teammates.”

When the second overtime began, Akron took charge by scoring the first nine points of the period to open a 90-81 lead with 43.1 seconds remaining. After a physically and mentally demanding game for both squads, Akron prevailed by the final eight-point margin to avenge a loss to EMU back on  February 1st at Rhodes Arena.

The game began innocently as both teams stayed close and neither team held more than a four-point advantage before Akron went on a 7-0 run to open a 26-19 lead  at the 6:21 mark on a layup by Nikola Cvetinovic.

EMU tied the game at several times before the Zips closed the first half with a 9-1 run to open their largest lead of the first period, 40-32, on a buzzer-beating three-pointer by Jimmy Conyers.

Akron started the second half by scoring the first six points, opening a 46-32 lead with 16:24 remaining on a Marshall layup.

After the Eagles closed the deficit to 52-49 with 9:25 left on a layup by Bowdry, Zips pushed the lead back out to eight 57-49 with 7:52 remaining on a three-pointer by Chris McKnight. The Eagles then again chipped away at the lead, closing to four 67-63 at the 2:55 mark on two Medlock free throws.

“We didn’t play very smart. We kept fouling. We kept putting Medlock on the line…We didn’t play like a very smart team.” Dambrot said.

The frustration in the second overtime for the Eagles boiled over as Bowdy was called for a flagrant foul and was ejected. In that same period Ramsey was ejected after receiving his second technical of the game.

In the end, the Zips prevailed and will meet Western Michigan in Friday's first semifinal game. Tipoff is 7 p.m..

NOTES: The game was the 36th lifetime meeting between the two schools, which are now deadlocked at 18-18…Akron is 2-0 against EMU in MAC Tournament Play…Akron is 12-11 in MAC Tournament play in its history,10-6 lifetime at Quicken Loans Arena…Akron head coach Keith Dambrot is 11-5 in MAC Tournament play (10-5 at Akron) and is10-2 lifetime against Eastern Michigan and 6-1 against EMU head coach Charles Ramsey…EMU is 21-24 lifetime in MAC Tournament play.