It was a tale of two halves for the Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team against Old Dominion.
The Eagles got off to a fast start in the first half, boasting an early 15-7 advantage and looking like they would run away and hide against their first non-conference foe since December.
However, a cold shooting spell marred the rest of the period for Eastern Michigan, notably shooting 2/11 (18.2%) from three-point range and watching Old Dominion cut their lead down to three heading into the halftime break.
That’s when the Eagles made a notable change to their approach in the second half: feed Da’Sean Nelson (Toledo, Ohio/Robert S. Rogers/Kilgore College/DePaul) in the paint, and watch good things happen.
“He [Nelson] scored inside and sprayed it out for three’s, he created a lot of offense just playing through him out of the post,” Head Coach Stan Heath said about the way his team played in the final frame.
The results were almost immediate: Eastern Michigan went from shooting 42.3% (11/26) from the floor in the first half to 58.3% (14/24) in the second half, with Nelson, as mentioned above, contributing 17 critical second-half points and 22 total on the day. This comes with an efficient 61.5% (8/13) shooting percentage from the floor.
Other notable scorers for the Eagles included the usual suspects: Jalen Terry (Flint, Michigan/Beecher/Oregon/DePaul) added 18 points, including a pair of crucial three-pointers down the stretch to help put the game away; Christian Henry (Chicago, Illinois/The Skill Factory/Panola College) scored 13 points, most of which came from the free-throw line late; and Jalin Billingsley (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran East/Georgetown) scored 12 points while shooting a perfect 4/4 from the field.
With the win, Eastern Michigan snapped its three-game losing streak and improved its record to 11-12 (4-6 MAC) in its final non-conference test, while Old Dominion fell to 11-14 (7-5 SBC) for the year.
Next time out, the Eagles will resume MAC action with only six games remaining before the end-of-season conference tournament. This Wednesday at 7 p.m., they will face Ball State on the road. Viewers can stream the game live on ESPN+.
