Another double-digit effort from Da'Sean Nelson (Toledo, Ohio/Robert S. Rogers/Kilgore College/DePaul) plus an additional 12 points from Jalin Billingsley (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran East/Georgetown) proved not to be enough for the Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team, falling on the road to Davidson, 86-64.
The Eagles started slowly, trailing by 20 points less than 10 minutes into the first half and still behind by that same margin at halftime, but they gradually began to claw their way back into the game as the second half began.
At one point, Eastern Michigan cut Davidson’s lead to 14 towards the latter portion of the second half - but the Wildcats finished the game strong, extending their advantage down the stretch up to their largest lead of the day (27) and ultimately finishing with a 22-point win.
While Davidson reached a 10-3 mark, Eastern Michigan fell to 6-6. They finished December with a 1-4 record after their red-hot 5-2 start to the 2024-25 campaign.
The aforementioned senior Nelson remains on a career run, having now posted eight straight games with double-digit points for the first time in his college tenure. At the same time, Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Dream City Christian) joined Nelson and Billingsley as the only players to reach double figures for the Eagles.
Some unusual circumstances also occurred at the start of the game - a fire alarm causing a 20+ minute delay before the issue was rectified and play resumed.
Eastern Michigan will return to action in precisely a week. They will tip off the new year by starting their conference play gauntlet at home against Northern Illinois on Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. Viewers can watch the action live on ESPN+.
