 EASTERN MICHIGAN 55, BOWLING GREEN 50 Head coach Rob Murphy's Eagles, now 5-2 in league play and 10-11 overall, out-scored Bowling Green, 12-7, over the final three minutes to record the home victory.
EMU senior guard Darrell Lampley led the way with a 20-point night while redshirt forward Anthony Strickland added eight points and six rebounds, including two clutch free throws with just 6.3 seconds left that gave the Eagles a 55-50 lead that ended up as the final score.
Bowling Green, now 9-11 overall and 3-4 in the MAC, was led by the duo of A'uston Calhoun and Dee Brown with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
The Eagles finished the game shooting 36.4 percent from the field, making 20-of-55 shots while also connecting on 6-of-14 threes for 42.9 percent. Bowling Green shot 34.8 percent, making 16-of-46. The Falcons committed 19 turnovers but won the battle of the boards, 40-33.
Bowling Green eased out to a 17-11 lead in the first 10 minutes before Lampley connected on an arching two-point field goal near the lane and a long triple from the top right side of the arc to cut it to 17-16 with 9:54 left in the half.
The Eagles then scored the next four unanswered points on two Riley free throws and a driving layup by Lampley to take a 20-17 lead with 7:06 left in the half.
The teams traded baskets before Eastern forged a 25-all tie on a dunk by Jamell Harris with 1:24 left and the half ended with that deadlock.
Lampley led the way in the first half with seven points while Riley added five. The Eagles shot just 35.7 from the field in the first stanza on 10-of-28 shooting while BGSU was making just 33.3 percent of their own, hitting 8-of-24. The Falcons held a decisive 23-15 edge in rebounding.
Neither team could find the range in the early stages of the second half and the score remained tied at 25-all through the first 2:30.
Eastern finally broke the deadlock, going on a 12-7 run over the next five minutes to take a 37-32 lead with 11:46 left on a triple by Lampley. Strickland added a layup just 32 seconds later for a 39-32 EMU advantage.
Bowling Green fought back to tie the game once again at 43-all before Lampley buried a long three from in front of the EMU bench to put Eastern on top, 46-43, with 3:12 left.
After a free throw by BG's Torian Oglesby made it 46-44, EMU's Antonio Green fired home a three from the right baseline for a 49-44 EMU lead with 2:20 left.
Redshirt guard J.R. Sims then took a nice feed from Lampley to hit a layup with 58.6 left for a 51-44 EMU lead.
BG's Jordan Crawford answered with a long three to cut it to four, 51-47, but Lampley and Strickland both made two free throws each over the final 34 seconds to help EMU preserve the 55-50 victory.
The Eagles will stay in MAC cross-divisional action with a trip to Oxford, Ohio Wednesday, Feb. 1, for a 7 p.m. matchup with the Miami University RedHawks. Bowling Green will be at Western Michigan on Wednesday (7 p.m.).
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