Men’s Basketball Downed by Kent State

Box score.

KENT, Ohio. — Poor shooting from the field and costly turnovers plagued the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team as the Eagles fell, 82-46, to Kent State here Saturday afternoon in the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.

EMU (8-14, 3-6 MAC) shot a dismal 7-for-25 in each half for a total of 14-for-50 (28 percent) for the game. Behind the arc was no different as the Eagles only connected on 3-of-22 three-pointers for a 13 percent clip. Conversely, Kent State (14-8, 7-2 MAC) shot 56 percent for the game hitting 28-of-50 from the floor while hitting a blistering 61 percent (8-of-13) from three-point land. In addition the Golden Flashes got 25 points off 20 Eagle turnovers.

Eastern was led by freshman guard Devon Dumes (Indianapolis, Ind.-Decatur Central) with 13 points going 2-of-11 from the field and 7-of-9 from the free throw line. Brandon Bowdry (Taylor, Mich.-Truman) scored nine of the Eagles’ 19 first half points and finished the game with 12 points while grabbing a team-high six rebounds. Jarred Axon (Jackson, Mich.-Jackson-Schoolcraft C.C.) and Nick Freer (Stevensville, Mich.-Lakeshore) also chipped in with six points each while Craig Cashen (Cincinnati, Ohio-St. Xavier) notched seven points.

Kent State had four players in double figures led by freshman guard Chris Singletary who had 16 points. Sophomore forward, Julian Sullinger, senior guard Omni Smith and senior guard Armon Gates each had 12 points.

In the second half, Kent State picked up where they left off with a 5-0 run to go up 51-19 at the 18 minutes remaining. With EMU down 65-27, the Eagles went on an 11-4 run with Dumes scoring nine of the 11 Eagle points to cut into the lead, 67-38, with 7:56 remaining in the game. However, that would be as close at EMU would get and the Golden Flashes outscored the Eagles 15-8 down the stretch and cruised to an 82-46 victory.

The game started off slowly at 2-2 as both teams had trouble scoring over the first four minutes. Kent State went on an 11-0 run to go up 12-2 at the 11 minute mark. Nine out of 11 KSU points came off EMU turnovers. A jumper by Axon ended the scoring drought with the Eagles trailing 14-4 with 11:35 remaining. However, Kent State kept applying pressure and increased its lead to 27-8 at the 7:57 mark. Bowdry connected on his third lay-up to put EMU in double digits but still down 29-11. Kent State then connected on three straight three-pointers to extend its lead to 43-17 and went on the close out the half with a 46-19 lead heading into the locker room. For the half, Bowdry lead EMU with nine points while Gates paced KSU with 12 points. EMU committed 14 turnovers leading to 17 Kent State points. In addition, the Golden Flashes hit a blistering 6-of-8 (75 percent) from behind the arc compared to 0-for-8 for the Eagles.

EMU returns home to the Convocation Center for a MAC cross-divisional tilt against Miami University, Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 7 p.m.

Eastern Michigan Athletics

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