 EASTERN MICHIGAN 62, ROCHESTER 43 The Eagles, now 4-1 on the season, stay in the Convocation Center for the Sunday noon battle with the Spartans as part of the Auto-Owners Spartan Invitational, hosted by MSU. The noon tilt is scheduled to be televised on ESPNU.
In Wednesday's victory, the Eagles had four players in double figures, led by redshirt sophomore guard J.R. Sims with 12 points, while senior guard Darrell Lampley and senior guard Antonio Green added 11 each. Junior center Matt Balkema chipped in with10 points and nine rebounds.
Rochester, now 9-3 on the year, was led by senior center Ricky Doran with 14 points and 11 rebounds, while Dramell Hogan tallied 10 points with 10 boards.
The Eagles connected on just 36.8 percent from the field, making 21-of-57 field goals with Rochester making 18-of-47 attempts for 38.3 percent. Eastern won the battle of the boards, 39-31, and also turned over the Warriors 21 times.
Balkema got the Eagles off on the right foot, with a lay-up followed by a free throw for a quick 3-0 lead.
Eastern built that lead to 16-2 over the first 10 minutes of the game before Rochester scored its first 3-pointer of the game on a long jumper from Torey Throop at the 9:28 mark of the first half.
The Warriors cranked up their offense from that point and out-scored EMU, 13-2, over the next six minutes to cut the deficit to three, 18-15, with 2:50 left in the half.
Sims responded for the Eagles with five straight points to boost the EMU lead to 23-15 with 1:05 left to play in the half. Greene fired home a long-range triple at the buzzer to send the home team into halftime with a 26-15 lead.
Sims led the way in the first 20 minutes with seven, while Doran had seven for Rochester.
Both teams were ice cold from the field in the first half, with EMU making just 8-of-29 attempts for 27.6 percent, while Rochester shot 28 percent on 7-of-25 shooting. Eastern held a slim 22-19 rebound edge.
The Eagles came out on fire to start the second 20 minutes, boosting their lead to 16, 39-23, at the 13:20 mark of the second half on a triple by Sims.
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