 EASTERN MICHIGAN 39, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 40 Holding a slim three-point lead, Darrell Lampley was awarded a breakaway layup when Central was called for a goal tend to put Eastern up by five, 39-34, with 36.4 left.
CRADDOCK TREY ADDS TO DRAMA
After Central's Trey Zeigler hit the second of two free tosses to cut it to four, 39-35, with 29.4 left on the clock, the Eagles had trouble in-bounding the ball. Central's Finis Craddock picked up an errant pass and bombed in a long three from the top of the arc to cut it to one, 39-38, with 24.9 left.
Central was then forced into a fouling situation, and Lampley connected on both free throws to put Eastern up by three, 41-38, with 22.3 left.
The visitors got one last chance at the tie, but a triple by Zeigler was off the mark at the buzzer, and EMU gained the 41-38 victory.
CONVO LOW
The 38 points scored by CMU was a Convocation Center low for a visiting team, while EMU's 41 points was also a team low for the season.
The Eagles shot just 33.3 percent from the field, making 14-of-42 shots while leading scorer Brandon Bowdry was held 15 points below his 21-point average, scoring just six points. He also had eight boards.
Derek Thompson and Lampley led the Eagles, now 2-3 in the MAC and 5-13 overall, with 11 points each. Jamell Harris had eight rebounds with five blocked shots.
Central, now 2-3 in league play and 5-13 overall, was led by Zeigler with 13, while Andre Coimbra added 10. Central shot just 23.3 percent from the field on 14-of-60, but held a 45-37 rebound advantage.
The Chippewas opened the game on two free throws by Zeigler and quickly built a 5-2 lead before the Eagles responded with a run. Thompson connected on a jumper followed by a layup from Kamil Janton and two free throws by Thompson to stake the Eagles to an 8-5 advantage.
Eastern increased that lead to six, 15-9, on a Lampley three with 8:01 left in the half. Thompson then hit a triple that took three bounces before falling for an 18-9 EMU edge.
BOWDRY SCORELESS AT HALF
The two teams struggled on the offensive end the remainder of the half, with Eastern taking a 21-13 lead into intermission despite the fact that Bowdry, the team's leading scorer and rebounder was held scoreless with three rebounds while being in foul trouble. Thompson paced the Eagles with nine first-half points.
Central's leading scorer, Zeigler also could not get untracked in the first 20 minutes, scoring just four points as the Chips hit just 4-of-30 field goal attempts for 13.3 percent. Eastern finished the first half connecting on 30.4 percent of their field-goal attempts, making 7-of-23.
The Eagles re-kindled their offense in the early stages of the second half, rolling to a 29-14 lead with 14:29 remaining when Jay Higgins hit a three from deep in the right corner.
Bowdry would finally get his first points of the game on a layup at the 10:06 mark, giving Eastern a 31-20 lead.
The Chippewas slowly chipped away at that deficit, cutting it to three twice in the final three minutes, setting up the furious late-game action.
The Eagles are back in MAC action Wednesday, Jan. 26, against East Division rival Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Central Michigan hosts Miami Thursday (7 p.m. ET).
Courtesy of Eastern Michigan Athletics |
