So far this season, the men's basketball team has played the role of both Jekyll and Hyde. The team started off the year playing at a high level, but has struggled recently, losing five of their last seven games.
After splitting two games on the road, it was anyone's guess which team was going to show up at Alumni Arena on Wednesday night.
But the Bulls (13-9, 6-5 Mid-American Conference) came out energized and used a dominating second-half shooting performance to beat the Eastern Michigan Eagles (12-12, 4-7 MAC), 84-67. The team shot 73.9 percent in the second half and tied the second-best mark in school history for the entire game with a 66.7 percent tally.
The play of senior guard Rodney Pierce was a driving force for the Bulls in the win. He scored 27 points and dished out five assists. After the game Pierce said that he did what he needed to do for his team to win.
'I was just doing what I thought my team needed me to do,' Pierce said. '[I was trying] to just be aggressive whether I was scoring or passing.'
Pierce also played shut down defense in the second half on the reigning MAC West Player of the Week Carlos Medlock.
Medlock was on during the first half and scored 12 points while hitting on all three of his attempts beyond the arc. Pierce and company turned the tide in the second half and held the EMU senior to two points and 0-for-8 shooting from the field.
The night was a special one for sophomore forward Mitchell Watt, who set a career-high with 14 points in the game Watt was instrumental in the win, energizing his team with two huge dunks that brought the small crowd of 945 to their feet.
Watt, along with sophomore forward Titus Robinson and senior forward Max Boudreau, saw this game as a personal challenge to be better than the Eastern Michigan big guys.
'We knew this game was going to be a challenge in the post,' Watt said. 'Not only did we try and step up on the defensive end, but we really tried to go at them on the offensive end and wear them down.'
Watt has had an up-and-down sophomore season for the Bulls. He dealt with illness at the beginning of the year, but is now back to 100 percent and could be a key to the team's success down the stretch.
Not only did the Bulls have their offensive game working, but they also played solid defense, especially in the second half. After shooting an impressive 63.6 percent from the field in the first, the Eagles fell off in the second and went 10-for-24 and a horrific 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
Head Coach Reggie Witherspoon went into the game with the hopes of making things tough for the Eagles. He knew it would take some solid defense to keep EMU's playmakers in check.
'[In the first half] we gave up some easy shots,' Witherspoon said. 'We thought that we could eventually get their percentage to come down and in the second half it did come down.'
The Bulls showed early on in the game that they wouldn't be pushed around. Led by Watt, the Bulls connected on their first six field goal attempts, but neither team could pull away in the opening half.
The second half stage belonged to Pierce. He scored 15 of his 27 points in the half and displayed his leadership ability in orchestrating the Bulls on the floor.
A 21-4 Buffalo run to start the second half was all it needed to cruise to victory as the Eagles never led in the game and couldn't stage a comeback.
Eastern Michigan star forward Bradon Bowdry was hampered by foul trouble in the game, but still managed to put up impressive numbers. The redshirt-junior tied his season-high with 26 points and grabbed eight rebounds in only 24 minutes of play. He went 10-for-12 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw stripe.
Even though the Bulls looked better than they have in recent games, Witherspoon knows there is still work to do.
'We still have a ways to go,' Witherspoon said. 'But I think we're learning that we can control the tempo of the game and still run. And when we control the tempo we can really dig in defensively.'
The Bulls won the turnover battle in the game and capitalized on it by outscoring the Eagles 23-6 in points off turnovers. The Buffalo bench also topped the Eagles in the game, 24-8.
On Saturday afternoon at Alumni Arena the Bulls will take on Kent State (18-7, 9-2 MAC) in a MAC East rematch. Earlier in the season, the Golden Flashes dominated Buffalo by the score of 89-54. Tip-off Saturday is set for noon.
E-mail: sports@ubspectrum.com
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
