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11/10/2006 9:25:29 PM | Men's Basketball
The Wildcats rally from a 17-point halftime deficit to win 81-77
Box score.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Davidson University overcame a 17-point halftime deficit to claim a 81-77 victory over the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team in the 2006-07 season opener Friday night here at the John Thompson Classic held at Crisler Arena on the campus of the University of Michigan.
The Eagles, 0-1 on the season, were paced by sophomore Carlos Medlock who posted a game-high 23 points, five assists and a career-high eight steals. Jesse Bunkley posted 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting in his Eagles' debut while freshman Devon Dumes added 11.
Davidson, now 1-0 on the year, put four players in double-digits led by Thomas Sander with a team-best 19 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the free throw line. Jason Richards turned in 17, Stephen Curry added 15 and Borins Meno chipped in 12 in the victory.
Turnovers and fouls plagued both squads with the teams combining for 58 turnovers (EMU 26, DU 32) and 51 fouls (EMU 30, DU 21). After leading by as many as 17 in the first half, the Eagles were outscored 20 in the second half as their inexperience down the stretch proved to be costly.
Davidson started off the game leading 10-9, connecting on four of seven shooting from the field and holding Eastern to three of five. The Green and White took its first lead of the contest on a senior Chris Knaub lay-up with 14:45 to go in the period. Knaub added a pair of free throws to expand the margin to three, 13-10.
The Eagles offense would start to catch fire using a 16-0 run to take a 23-10 lead with 11:05 showing on the clock. Meanwhile the EMU defense would stand up to the challenge and held the Wildcats without a field goal for more than five minutes. Richards knocked down a shot with 10:36 left in the opening period ending Davidson's drought to make it 23-12.
The teams exchanged points but Davidson was unable to get any closer than 10 points as Eastern was able to get a critical score to keep the edge in double-figures. Back-to-back three-pointers by Bunkley pushed the Eagles' to its biggest lead of the half at 17, 44-27, with just over a minute to play in the period.
The squads headed into the locker room with Eastern Michigan holding the lead at 44-28. During the first 20 minutes of action, Eastern shot a stellar 53 percent (8-of-15) from beyond the arch to account for half its 44 points. Medlock led all scorers with 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting to go along with five steals and three assists. Davidson saw a balanced attacked with all eight players accounting for at least two points including Thomas Sander with nine points.
Following the intermission both teams looked stagnate, as Davidson held EMU without a score for nearly the first four minutes of the period while only managing four points of its own during the same period of time. Senior Craig Cashen finally got the Green and White in the scorebook with a lay-up with 16:02 left in the game to give EMU a 46-32 edge.
The Wildcats started to get the offense in a flow as DU pulled within eight points, 48-40, with 12:00 to go in the game. The Wildcats quickly followed with a pair of steals and fastbreak layups to cut the deficit to four, 48-44, with 11:31 to go force the Eagles to burn a timeout.
The struggles continued for Eastern as Davidson went on a 18-4 run to cut the lead to two, 48-46, via a pair of Richardson free throws off a Medlock technical foul with 11:06 to go. Junior Nenad Banjanin ended the streak with a layup followed up by a Dumes trey to give EMU as 53-46 advantage with 9:04 left.
The Eagles and Wildcats exchanged scores with Eastern unable to pull away from the 2006 Southern Conference Champions. Once again Dumes proved clutch connecting on a key triple at 6:29 mark to give the Eagles a double-digit edge at 60-50. But Davidson's Curry promptly answered with a three of his own as the Wildcats clawed back within five.
Turnovers continued to kill the Eagles as Medlock tallied Eastern's 25th on the game. The contest remained tight until a put-back by Meno knotted the scored at 64 with 3:06 showing on the clock. Consecutive three-pointers by Curry gave Davidson its first lead since the 15:53 mark of the first half, 70-66, with just over two minutes remaining.
A quick timeout by head coach Charles E. Ramsey helped calm the Eagles nerves and gave Banjanin a chance to head to the free throw line at the 2:03 mark. He made the first but missed the second as Cashen grabbed the board and was fouled. A pair of free throws by Cash cut the deficit to one, 70-69, but DU's Sanders hit a jumper in the lane and was fouled to push it back to four, 73-69, with 1:54 to go.
Another trip to the charity stripe by Eastern was followed by a Davidson layup to make it 75-70. A pair of free throws by Richards with :55 seconds left sealed the victory, as the Wildcats pulled out the 81-77 decision.
With the setback, Eastern falls to 2-15 all-time at Michigan's Crisler Arena with all of the other previous meetings coming against the Wolverines.
Eastern Michigan returns to action tomorrow afternoon, Nov. 11, versus Central Connecticut State University in the second game of the John Thompson Challenge. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Crisler Arena.
