Eastern Michigan opened up the MAC season with a convincing 85-63 victory over visiting Central Michigan at the Convocaton Center in Ypsilanti Tuesday. And for the record Rob Murphy notched his 100th win as EMU head coach.
It was a tight game in the early going as the teams stayed within 2 points of each other, but by late in the first half EMU began to build a consistent lead. By the time the 2nd half began Eastern had all of the momentum,
A major factor in the win for the Eagles was their strong defensive play as EMU held the leading scorer in the nation, Marcus Keene, to 22 points. This was no small feet as CMU's Keene entered the game with a scoring average of 30.7 points a game. The Chips entered Tuesday's game against EMU with a 10-3 record. The 9-5 Eagle showed why they were picked to win the MAC West as they dominated CMU in the 2nd half.
From the floor Eastern shot 43.5 percent (30 of 69 and hit five 3 pointers. They Eagles also stole the ball from the Chips 12 times.
EMU's Baylee Steele was outstanding in the game as he scored 18 points and had 10 rebounds. James Thompson matched Steele's 18 points as the pair led EMU in scoring.
In the post game EMU coach Murphy said that though the team didn't play well enough in the first half they picked it up in the 2nd half. Coach Murphy also said that a goal for the Eagles was to take away CMU's 3 pointers.
This was a fantastic win for our EMU Eagles and an exciting way to open up MAC season play.
Next up for EMU is Buffalo at the Convocation Center Sat, Jan 7 at 2:30.
Go Eagles!
Jeff Brown
Editor/Publisher
Purple Walrus Press.
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| EMU guard Ray Lee takes it to the net against CMU. Photo Purple Walrus Press. |
This was such a fun game!
ReplyDeleteAnd now beer in atrium!