Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Detroit
Men's Basketball Falls to Detroit, 64-60
11/29/2005 10:21:12 PM | Men's Basketball
Loss drops Eagles to 1-2
YPSILANTI, Mich.--For the second game this season Eastern Michigan University first-year Head Coach Charles E. Ramsey had to face one of his mentors.
And while the first time ended in a win over California in the Eagles’ 2005 season opener, this time around it was the University of Detroit Mercy on the winning side with a 64-60 victory over EMU in a non-conference game played here Tuesday in the Convocation Center.
EMU’s Ramsey worked for California head coach Ben Braun on staffs at EMU and Cal. Ramsey was also mentored by Watson during his early years in the coaching business.
The loss drops EMU to 1-2 on the season while Detroit evens its record at 3-3.
"I give University of Detroit all the credit for being a tougher team and making the tough plays down the stretch," said EMU Head Coach Charles Ramsey. "They came up with the big rebounds on both ends of the floor. We had 30 seconds to go and they missed two free throws and they came up with the big offensive putback. We have to be mature enough, and tough enough to come up with that ball.
"They (UDM) made plays-tough plays," Ramsey continued. "It was a not a very pretty game but they made the plays they needed to make down the stretch and we didn’t."
"It’s always nice to come back home and get a win," UDM Head Coach Perry Watson, a 1972 EMU graduate, said. "I thought Charles (Ramsey) and his staff did a real good job in getting his guys to compete and really give us all we could handle. We played four games in six days and we haven’t had our legs. I was really proud of guys like Jon Goode who played yeoman minutes, handled the ball, and pressured their guards. I thought we challenged them to have a difference in the paint. I think we outscored them in the paint, 34-20."
And the key play in the paint came in the waning moments of the game when Muhammad Abdur-Rahim missed two free throws with 45 seconds left only to have forward Chuck Bailey follow with a rebound and a putback to give Detroit a 62-57 advantage.
Danny McElhinny (Hermitage, PA-Kennedy Catholic) made a long three-point field goal at the buzzer to cut U-D’s winning margin to four, 64-60.
A slow first half, with the Eagles shooting 28 percent to Detroit’s 37 percent, led to a 29-24 Titan advantage into halftime. Craig Cashen (Cincinnati, Ohio-St. Xavier) led the Eagles in the first half with seven points. Torvoris Baker paced the Titans with eight points and four rebounds.
John Bowler (Chicago, Ill.-Notre Dame) led the Eagles with 19 points and nine rebounds while McElhinny added 12, and Cashen scored 11 points.
Bailey led the Titans with 13 points while Brandon Cotton added 11 and Torvoris Baker chipped in with 10.
