Spring Break
Men's Basketball: BracketBuster opponent set
Dan Cusack/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 2/3/09 Section: Sports
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The Panthers (10-11, 7-4 Ohio Valley Conference) will play Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Feb. 21 in the ESPNU BracketBuster game, which was announced Monday night. Game time has not been set yet.
This is Eastern's fourth year in the BracketBuster event, an event designed by ESPN in 2003 to give mid-major schools a chance to play each other shortly before the start of the NCAA Tournament.
This year's NCAA Tournament begins on March 19.
Last season, Eastern lost to Evansville 63-55 in Lantz Arena. Eastern also lost the other two matchups in the event to Loyola of Chicago and Wisconsin Green Bay, both of which were on the road.
Eastern head coach Mike Miller was on a recruiting trip Monday night and could not be reached for comment.
Under the current agreement with the BracketBuster event, a team will play a home-and-home series with their opponent, which means the Panthers would also play Western Michigan (7-13, 4-3 Mid-American Conference) in Lantz Arena in November or December.
All 10 Ohio Valley Conference schools will participate in this event.
Eastern and Southeast Missouri are the only schools in the conference not to win a game in this event.
Marion injury update
Junior guard T.J. Marion almost did not play for the Panthers in their 63-60 victory Saturday against Jacksonville State.
Marion, the team's third leading scorer, played only seven minutes in Thursday's victory against Tennessee Tech because of a bad foot.
Eastern coach Mike Miller said he was unsure of the status even up until game time, but Marion played, scoring five points, with three assists and two rebounds in 35 minutes of action.
"I tried to take him out for a little bit in the first half," Miller said. "He said that he felt better so we stayed with him."
Miller said they are fortunate that the team will have a week between the Jacksonville State game and its next game against Southeast Missouri on Saturday because it will allow Marion and other players who are sore or have other minor things to rest up before the final push of the season.
Eastern sophomore guard Tyler Laser said it will be good to have a few days off so the team can get some rest and get their legs back.
Post play key in victory
In Eastern's win against Jacksonville State, Miller said that the Gamecocks had talented forwards, and Eastern knew to beat them they could not allow points in the paint.
Eastern saw significant minutes from sophomore center Matt Dorlack, who scored a career high six points to go along with four rebounds in 10 minutes of play.
Eastern junior center Ousmane Cisse led both teams with 13 rebounds in addition to seven points.
Eastern was able to win the battle in the paint as they outscored JSU 22-14.
"When we watched and they were winning their games in the non-conference including on the road and against UMass, their forwards were averaging 8 to 9 to 10 points," Miller said. "We knew if they got going in the paint we couldn't score enough to stay with them."
Gamecocks' head coach James Green said Eastern did a good job in the post.
"I thought their bodies on our bodies around the basket - I thought they were a lot more intensive and physical," Green said.
He said Eastern did a good job defending and made it difficult for JSU to score.
Dan Cusack can be reached at dscusack@eiu.edu.
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