While the temperatures outside were historically frigid, the Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team was red hot from the floor to warm up the George Gervin GameAbove Center on Tuesday night, knocking off the preseason MAC favorite Ohio Bobcats en route to a 94-87 victory.
The Eagles shot a season-best 60.3% from the floor, and four players scored 15 points or more to add to their offensive eruption. At one point early in the second half, they bolted out to a 21-point lead.
However, Ohio didn’t go down without a fight, storming back on a 13-2 run down the stretch to cut Eastern Michigan’s lead down to five in the closing stages. Some clutch free throw shooting from the Eagles allowed the home team to escape with their second straight conference victory.
“I think we played about 30 minutes in this game, probably left about 10 on the table,” head coach Stan Heath said regarding his team’s performance in the win. “It’s hard in this league. You go up by 20, you go up by 17, you can’t relax - and that’s one thing I thought we did in the second half,” he added.
Four different players for Eastern Michigan all contributed 15 points or more to the team’s winning effort: Da'Sean Nelson (Toledo, Ohio/Robert S. Rogers/Kilgore College/DePaul) lead the way with 21 points, Christian Henry (Chicago, Illinois/The Skill Factory/Panola College) contributed 18, Jalen Terry (Flint, Michigan/Beecher/Oregon/DePaul) added 17, and Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Dream City Christian) scored 16, the second straight game he has done so.
With the win, the Eagles improved back to .500 on the season, boasting a 9-9 record (3-3 MAC), while the Bobcats dropped to 10-8 on the campaign (4-2 MAC).
Eastern Michigan will remain at home next time it returns to action. On Jan. 25, at 2 p.m., it will face conference foe Buffalo. Viewers can catch the game live on ESPN.
