Tyson Acuff (Detroit, Mich.) became the 32nd player in EMU history to reach 1,000 points as an Eagle inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center on Tuesday, Feb. 27, as the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team defeated Western Michigan University, 70-67. Securing a crucial victory in the Mid-American Conference Tournament chase, the Eagles hope stays alive for a trip to Cleveland.
The Junior, Acuff, scored 17 points to exceed 1,000 career points against Eastern Michigan. Acuff has 1,014 Eagle points, which ties him to a thirty-ninth place in EMU history. Freshman Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia) went 6-for-9 from three-point range on his way to 22 points.
“He [Acuff] is a joy to coach. He is no maintenance, he does everything he is asked to do,” Stan Heath, head coach for the Eagles. “He has a great personality with his teammates and his coaches. He comes to work every single day and obviously he's an extremely productive guy.”
Acuff has a 30-game streak of at least 11 points and has scored at least 10 points in 28 straight games, which is a record for an EMU player.
Before EMU put together a 14-2 run to take a 33-22 lead with five minutes remaining in the half, the teams exchanged blows in the first ten minutes of play.
The Eagles settled for a 35-32 advantage at halftime as WMU answered with a 10-2 run.
With 14:46 remaining in the game, the Broncos took the lead again, 44-43, but the Eagles responded with a 9-2 run to take a six-point advantage that they would not give up until WMU tied the game at 58-58 with eight minutes remaining.
The Eagles would keep the lead for the remainder of the game thanks to a crucial put-back by junior Yusuf Jihad (Farmington Hills, Mich.) with 1:04 remaining after an Osojnik three-pointer gave EMU the lead.
Sophomore Orlando Lovejoy (Detroit, Mich.) made a floater with 16 seconds remaining to increase the Eagles' advantage to three points. In the final seconds, the Eagles forced two Broncos misses to secure the win.
“The transition game and the rebound game: If you don’t do those two things against Western you don’t have a chance,” coach Heath mentioned what the team has been practicing anticipating this game.
Western Michigan shot 24-of-58 (41.4%) from the field and 13-of-34 (38.2%) from deep, while Eastern Michigan shot 27-of-63 (42.9%) from the floor and 9-of-21 (42.9%) from three-point range. The Eagles improved to 12-2 when shooting better than their opponent.
After this win, Western Michigan dropped to 10-18 overall and 7-8 in the MAC, while Eastern improved to 12-16 overall and 5-10 in MAC play.
With the win, the MAC tournament hopes are still alive for the Eagles as they sit in 10th place in the MAC rankings and just two games behind the Broncos who are now in the eighth place of the MAC rankings, the final spot of the MAC tournament.
Next up, Miami University will visit Eastern Michigan on March 2, at 1 p.m. inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
