The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team went to Chicago Saturday to face the University of Illinois-Chicago, and left having only led twice. The Eagles suffered a commanding loss to the Flames 74-48.
The team was on top for a total of 1:05. Senior forward Glenn Bryant scored 10 points, but the Flames proved to be too much for the Eagles. The Eagles are still winless for on the road games this season.
UIC’s Gary Talton started the scoring on a fast-break layup following a turnover by redshirt junior Austin Harper. The third time was the charm for senior center Da’Shonte Riley as he tied the score after two tip-in attempts and three offensive rebounds. Former Eagle Daniel Barnes, who played during the 2008-09 season, answered for UIC with a three-pointer to put the Flames ahead 5-2.
After Bryant made a jumper with 17:31 to go in the first half, he stole the ball from Marc Brown and fed it to senior center Derek Thompson, who made a jumper of his own to put the Eagles ahead for the only time in the game, 6-5.
Barnes put the Flames back up with another three pointer, and Brown added a jumper to give the Flames a 10-6 lead before the media timeout at the 15:39 mark of the half. After play resumed, the Eagles and Flames traded turnovers before Bryant put down a fast-break dunk to bring the Eagles’ deficit back to two at 10-8.
After Barnes missed a three-point attempt for UIC, freshman Jalen Ross hit a three of his own, putting the Eagles back up by a score of 11-10. The lead was short-lived, however, as Barnes made another jumper for the Flames to give his team back the lead at 12-11.
Bryant then fouled Barnes’ attempted three pointer. Barnes made two of the three free throws to put the Flames up by three. Bryant made a layup to put the Eagles back down by one, 14-13. Brown made a jumper, putting UIC back up by three before the second media timeout.
Nearly a minute passed before the next points were scored. Thompson made a jumper to make the score 16-15. Thompson’s bucket was the last one for the next four and a half minutes before Ross fouled Talton. Talton made one of his two free throw attempts, making the score 17-15.
Barnes then made a three-pointer for UIC and followed up with a fast-break layup, putting the Flames ahead 22-15 with 3:11 to go in the half. Ross fouled Talton again with 2:03 left and Talton made both free throws. Riley made his presence known again with two offensive rebounds and a dunk in the paint. He followed up with a jumper with 1:25 remaining.
At halftime, the Eagles trailed by a score of 24-19.
The Eagles were 9-24 from the floor at the break (37.5 percent). They made only one of the two three-pointers and missed the only free throw they attempted.
On the flip side, the Flames were 8 for 26 (30.8 percent) in shooting and 3 for 16 (18.8 percent) from beyond the arc. They were 5 for 9 (55.6 percent) from the free throw line.
The second half began with a storm of three pointers for UIC. Barnes and Hayden Humes each landed one to start the half. Senior forward Jamell Harris made a jumper, but Talton responded with another three. With 17:49 to go in the second half, UIC led by a score of 33-21.
The Eagles scored the next four points on two good free throws from redshirt junior J.R. Sims and a jumper from sophomore guard Antoine Chandler coming off the bench. UIC wouldn’t stop shooting threes, however, as Humes made another with 12:01 to go, increasing his team’s lead to 41-26.
The Flames ran away with the rest of the game, putting up 50 points in the second half on the way to a 74-48 rout of the Eagles.
Aside from the 10 points Bryant scored, he also had seven rebounds and zero assists. Sims scored nine points off the bench for the Eagles and had one rebound. Riley and Chandler each had six points, while neither had an assist. Of the two, Riley had the only rebound.
Barnes, on the other hand, scored 30 points and pulled down a rebound against his former team. Barnes was also 6 for 13 from three-point range, accounting for over half of his points. Talton scored 12 points for the Flames with seven assists and six rebounds.
The Eagles next take on the University of Michigan Wolverines at the Crisler Center Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
The team returns to the Convocation Center Dec. 22 when they face the Oakland University Grizzlies, and tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The results of both games can be found on the Echo’s website at www.easternecho.com.
