On Friday, Dec. 1, in the George Gervin GameAbove Center, junior Tyson Acuff continued his scoring surge as he finished with 24 points to lead the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team to a 68-53 victory against Lake Superior State University.
After defeating Georgia Southern on Nov. 11, and Cleveland State on Nov. 18, EMU is off to a 3-0 start at home for the tenth time in the previous twelve seasons.
Acuff came into the matchup with a scoring average of 22.6 points per game, which ranked fourth in the country.
His scoring average increased to 22.8 points per game after his 24 points versus LSSU. He is the only player in the nation with a five-game winning streak of twenty-four or more points.
“I think our guys know who he is, but he is not afraid to share the ball, help his teammates, and get those guys involved,” Head Coach Stan Heath said about Acuff and his outstanding performance.
With 15:32 remaining in the first half, Eastern Michigan took an early lead thanks to an 8-0 run that ended with a three from Acuff. Then, just before halftime, Lake Superior State replied to tie the score at 29-29. During the half, Eastern Michigan's performance was helped by five 3-pointers, which they made to score 15 of their 29 points.
With 51 seconds remaining in the game, Eastern Michigan led 66-50 at the interval thanks to a 6-0 run that was capped off by a basket by redshirt junior John McGriff.
Before the game ended, the Lakers managed to cut the lead significantly, but the Eagles won 68-53 by cruising the remainder of the way. With 22 of their 39 points in the second half coming from the paint, the Eagles were strong in the paint.
Lake Superior State moved to 4-1 after the loss, while EMU improved to 5-3.
LSSU shot 8 of 24 (33.3%) and 18 of 55 (32.7%) from three-point range, while Eastern Michigan shot 28 of 63 (44.4%) from the floor and 6 of 19 (31.6%) from three-point range.
“I really think free throw shooting has to come up,” Heath said. “We’ve got time this week to really prove ourselves.”
For the seventh time this season, three Eagles notched double-digit points; Acuff (24), junior Yusuf Jihad (12), and junior Jalin Billingsley (11).
Next up, Oakland University and Eastern Michigan will square off inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center on Friday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m.
