Junior guard Tyson Acuff (Detroit, Mich.) decided to be a cheat code on retro arcade night as he sparked the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team to a 69-60 win as he produced a 34-point showing against Bowling Green State University inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
Acuff would finish with almost half of the Eagles' total points and make it a double-double showing as he hauled in 10 rebounds. With his 34 points, Acuff has now displayed five performances this season with 30+ points, as he's also one of 12 players in the country with 12 games of 23+ points.
The Eagles finally get to claim their revenge on the Falcons as the two teams met earlier in the year on Jan. 2, in Bowling Green, Ohio, where BGSU topped the Eagles, 92-90.
Sophomore forward Legend Geeter (River Rouge, Mich.) would add 13 points, seven rebounds, and three assists for EMU, as freshman forward Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia) chipped in seven points.
The Eagles produced a proficient night shooting, as they went 25-for-57 (43.9%) from the floor and 7-for-24 from three-point range (29%) compared to the Falcons' 22-for-64 from the floor (34.4%) and 6-for-26 (23.1%) from three.
Despite the efforts, BGSU would outscore the Eagles in the paint, 32-22, but EMU would win the rebounding battle against the Falcons, 43-38.
EMU would jump out to a 13-8 lead at the beginning of the first half behind an Acuff jumper. The Eagles would build on the momentum behind Acuff's hot hand as he would hit another jumper to extend the lead, 27-16, with 6:48 left in the half.
The remaining minutes would belong to the Eagles as they stayed in front and headed into halftime with a 33-24 advantage.
BGSU would come out of the break with a new mindset as they cut EMU's deficit to 42-37 with 13:54 left to play. After both teams would trade some buckets, the Falcons would find themselves trailing the Eagles by just five, 50-55, with 7:18 left to play. Some failed conversions on the offensive end for EMU would lead to the Falcons down by just four points, 64-60, with 1:41 remaining.
After the attempt to comeback didn't go so well for BGSU, the Eagles would hold on to win, 69-60.
With the win, the Eagles improve to 10-15 overall on the year and 3-9 in Mid-American Conference play, meanwhile, the Falcons fall to 16-9 overall and 7-5 in MAC play.
Next up, the Eagles will head to Buffalo, New York, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, for a date with the University at Buffalo. The tipoff for that game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.
