EMU Wins Last-Second Thriller at Western Michigan, 54-53

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — Senior guard Darrell Lampley (Linden, N.J.-Linden-Lakeland C.C.) hit a four-foot teardrop floating jumper on the right side of the lane with one second left to give the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team a 54-53 win over Western Michigan University here Wednesday, Feb. 29, in University Arena in a Mid-American Conference West Division game.

Lampley's winning shot, which bounced three times before finding the bottom of the net, was set up after Western took a 53-52 lead on a layup and foul shot by Flenard Whitfield with just 17.2 seconds left.

The Eagles worked the ball down court with junior Derek Thompson (Detroit, Mich.-Melvindale-SEMO) dishing off to Lampley for the winning drive to the basket.

Western then tried a court-length pass that went out of bounds, giving the Eagles possession under their own bucket. Lampley inbounded the ball to junior center Matt Balkema (Roseville, Mich.-Warren Cousino) as the buzzer sounded ending the game.

The win helped the Eagles improve to 9-6 in the MAC and gave EMU its first-ever MAC West Division title. Eastern is now 14-16 overall in Head Coach Rob Murphy's first year at the helm.

Lampley led the Eagles with 15 points while senior guard Antonio Green (Inkster, Mich.-Dearborn Heights Robichaud) added 12. The Eagles shot 40.4 percent from the field, making 19-of-47 shots and hit 84.6 percent from the charity stripe, making 11-of-13.

Western Michigan, now 12-18 overall and 6-9 in the league, was paced by Mike Douglas with 15 and Whitfield with 14. Western also held a 29-25 edge on the boards.

Thompson hit the first basket of the game on a short jumper, but WMU would score the next six points for a quick 6-2 lead in the first five minutes.

The home squad would go on to build a seven-point edge, 13-6, before Eastern would once again cut into that deficit, making it a three-point game, 13-10, on two free throws by Lampley with 9:15 left in the half.

The Eagles would keep chipping away at the deficit, trimming it to one, 21-20, on a short hook by junior forward Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) at the 3:36 mark.

Green would connect on a triple from the left corner to tie the game at 23-all with 46.4 left in the half.

Western's Shayne Wittington would score on a dunk with 14.1 seconds left in the half, but EMU redshirt sophomore J.R. Sims (Fort Wayne, Ind.-Snider) would put an exclamation point on the first half with a three at the buzzer to give the Eagles a 26-26 halftime lead.

The shooting stats were similar in the first half with EMU making 9-of-23 field-goal attempts for 39.1 percent while the Broncos were making 10-of-24 for 41.7 percent. Eastern had a 26-25 edge in rebounding.

Sims and Harris both finished the half with six points while Flenard Whitfield paced the Broncos with eight points.

After the Broncos opened the second half on a basket the Eagles would run off eight unanswered points to take a 34-27 lead 16:51 left.

The Broncos would slowly chip away at that deficit over the next 10 minutes and eventually gain a 40-40 tie on two free throws by Whitfield at the 7:12 mark.

The Eagles would meet that challenge and go up by six, 48-42, with 5:50 left on a three from Green, but Western would once again answer the call, with Whitfield making the first of two free throws to tie the game at 50-all with 1:02 left in the game.

Thompson would then score on a driving layup to give the Eagles a 52-50 lead, but his second free throw would miss the mark, giving the Broncos possession with 39.1 seconds left and setting up the final flurry of activity over the game's final few seconds.

The Eagles are scheduled to close out the 2011-12 regular season Saturday, March 3, in a MAC West Division battle with the University of Toledo Rockets. Game time is 2 p.m.

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Team Stats

Darrell Lampley

Antonio Green

Derek Thompson

Jamell Harris

Eastern Michigan Athletics