The Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team took possession of first place in the Mid-American Conference West after a 55-50 victory against Bowling Green State University on Saturday at the Convocation Center.
EMU (10-11, 5-2 MAC) was led by a 20-point output from senior guard Darrell Lampley, who also dished out four assists for the Eagles. Sophomore guard/forward Anthony Strickland was the next-highest scorer for EMU, with 8 points.
The Eagles finished the game making 20-of-55 shots (36.4 percent) and 6-of-14 on three-point attempts (42.9 percent). Lampley was 4-of-6 on three-point field goals (66.6 percent).
EMU was outrebounded by Bowling Green 40-33, but the Falcons committed 19 turnovers and shot 16-of-46 (34.8 percent) from the field.
“We executed well against the zone,” EMU coach Rob Murphy said. “Lampley stepped up and hit big shots to get us going tonight.”
Sophomore center Da’Shonte Riley led the Eagles on the defensive end, with three blocks and four rebounds. Eastern also saw a breakout performance from junior center Matt Balkema, who came off the bench to record five points and seven rebounds.
Bowling Green (9-11, 3-4) received a strong performance from junior forward and Michigan native, A’uston Calhoun, with 12 points and 9 rebounds. Calhoun consistently found holes in the EMU zone and scored on several alley-oop dunks when EMU went with a small lineup.
“We don’t play with a small lineup a lot,” Murphy said. “Playing [senior guard Quintin Dailey] at the four put him out of sync.”
Bowling Green raced off to a 17-11 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, but Lampley would go on a 5-0 run to close the gap to one at 17-16.
EMU has been led by strong defense this year and at times has had a stagnant offense. Lampley has continued to lead the Eagles with 13.3 points per game, but strong bench play has been key for Eastern this season.
“We don’t have a set rule to where we want the ball to go,” said Murphy. “As a unit we kind of manufacture points.”
After a slow start from both teams in the second half, the teams were deadlocked at 32 before Lampley took matters into his own hands again and hit two consecutive three-point jumpers for the Eagles as they went ahead 37-32.
EMU wouldn’t relinquish its lead again.
The Eagles will look to stay atop the MAC West when they face Miami (Ohio) in Oxford, Ohio on Wednesday. Miami (5-13, 1-5) is on a four-game losing streak and currently sits at the bottom of the MAC East. The Redhawks are led by preseason East Division All-Mac selection Julian Mavunga (17.6 PPG, 9.7 RPG).
