The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team (8-21, 5-11 MAC) clutched their second win in a row on Saturday, Feb. 25, against the Ball State University Cardinals (20-9,11-5 MAC), 75-68.
The matchup marked the last regular season home game for the Eagles inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center celebrating graduate senior Derek Ballard Jr. on Senior Day.
"It was good to recognize Dj Ballard,” said head coach Stan Heath in a postgame interview held by EMU Athletics. “He started as a walk-on and earned a scholarship, but he’s been an ambassador for our university and for our basketball program....off the court he’s the essential student athlete and that’s what I’m so proud about with him, " Heath said.
The Eagles struggled in the first half, down 37-27, heading into halftime but returned to the court for quarter two refocused.
With 14:45 left in the second half the Eagles were able to shrink Ball State’s lead, 43-42.
A sunken free throw by sophomore Colin Golson Jr. would secure EMU’s lead over Ball State with 04:31 remaining in the game.
On the team’s performance head coach Stan Heath said, “We didn’t get off to a great start but in the locker room we made some adjustments and lit a little bit of a fire underneath the guys to really step it up.”
Sophomore forward Emoni Bates recorded his 12th game this season scoring 20+ points, with 24 points and 11 rebounds against the Cardinals.
Overall Bates has scored 561 points since joining the team and is on track to surpass Ricky Cottrill (2001-02) who ranks fourth on the program's sophomore scoring list (582).
Bates is currently ranked 97th on the program's all-time career scoring list.
Also making strides in program history is fellow sophomore guard, Noah Farrakhan, who scored eight points Saturday afternoon, and is now eight points shy of scoring 800 points since joining the green and white. His 792 points ranks 55th all-time at Eastern.
In addition to Bates’ 24 points against the Cardinals, sophomore guard Tyson Acuff added 20 points and two steals for the Eagles. This is the second time this season that the pair has scored 20+ points in the same game.
Golson Jr. added 12 points from the bench, finishing with double-digit points for the second game in a row.
Up next, the Eagles will end the regular season with two road games. Their first stop is Bowling Green, Ohio inside Stroh Center on Feb. 28, in a matchup against the Bowling Green State University Falcons. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
For more information on the Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team, tune into "TheBlockE Podcast" weekly for more in-depth analysis, statistics, and more.
