Thursday, March 13th, 12:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Quicken Loans Arena (20,562) -- Cleveland, Ohio. Television: FSN. Home Record: EMU 10-4, WMU 11-1. Away Record: EMU 3-11, WMU 7-9. Neutral Record: EMU 1-1, WMU 1-1. Conference Record: EMU 8-8, WMU 12-4. Series Record: Western Michigan leads, 48-44.

GAME NOTES: The second-seeded Western Michigan Broncos will take the floor for the first time in the Mid-American Conference Tournament, as they get set to battle the seventh-seeded Eastern Michigan Eagles in quarterfinal round action at Quicken Loans Arena. The Eagles had a fight on their hands in the opening round, but were able to walk away with a slim, 59-55 victory over Ball State. It was the six victory in the last eight games for EMU, which closed out the regular season with an even 8-8 mark in MAC action. EMU has won this tournament on four different occasions, but the last one came back in 1998 and since then the squad has not seen a title match. As for the Broncos, they closed out their schedule with nine wins in their last 11 games, and finished with the MAC West Division title with a 12-4 league ledger. It was the third division title for WMU in the last five seasons, and the first since 2005. The Broncos are just 13-21 in this tournament, and have only one title, which they claimed in 2004. The winner of this contest will move on to the semifinal round, where they will meet either Akron or Central Michigan. The Broncos have won 10 of the last 11 meetings with Eastern Michigan and now own a slim, 48-44 lead over the Eagles in the all-time series. However, that lone win for EMU came earlier this season, as the Eagles defeated WMU, 81-71.

It was not a pretty effort by EMU yesterday, but the Eagles were able to claim a four-point victory over Ball State. The major advantage in this matchup came in the paint, as the Eagles outscored BSU down low by a whopping 32-12 margin. Eastern Michigan finished with a mediocre 44.4 percent shooting effort from the floor and also limited its mistakes by committing just 10 turnovers. Justin Dobbins, who is averaging 10.2 ppg on the year, finished with a team-high 21 points, while also grabbing six rebounds. Travis Lewis added a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while the team's leading scorer Carlos Medlock (14.9 ppg), contributed 15 points in the win. On the year, the Eagles have been nothing special offensively, netting just 66.4 ppg, while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor.

The Broncos have two First-Team All-MAC players running the show this afternoon, as the team will rely heavily on David Kool and Joe Reitz. Kool has done an excellent job throughout the season for WMU, as the guard is posting 16.1 ppg, while also connecting on a team-best 67 three-point attempts. As for Reitz, he has been the man in the middle for the Broncos, as the center is scoring 15.0 ppg, while collecting a team-best 7.9 rpg. The rest of the roster is filled with role players such as Shawntes Gary (8.4 ppg) and Derek Drews (6.7 ppg), who help Western Michigan produce a solid 70.0 ppg. Not to be overlooked is the Broncos' efforts defensively, as the squad is limiting teams to just 64.9 ppg. 11 times this season WMU has held an opponent to under 60 points, and in those contests the Broncos are an impressive 10-1 on the year.

The teams split two meetings this season, but the Broncos are undoubtedly stronger than Eastern Michigan, and should have no trouble pushing through to the next round.

Predicted Outcome

Western Michigan 72, Eastern Michigan 58