Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
Marygrove
EMU Opens Regular Season With a 119-48 Win Over Marygrove
11/14/2008 2:38:17 PM | Men's Basketball
Eagles roll to 50-21 halftime lead on the way to a 71-point victory
Box score.
Click Here to Watch Coach Ramsey's Postgame Press Conference.
Click Here to Watch the Pregame Education Day Program.
YPSILANTI, Mich. — A high-energy "Education Day" crowd provided plenty of vocal support for the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team as the Eagles rolled to a 119-48 non-conference win over Marygrove College here Friday afternoon, Nov. 14, in the Convocation Center. The game was the 2008-09 season opener for EMU and leaves Marygrove with an 0-2 record. The victory margin of 71 broke the EMU record of 59 set Jan. 17, 1968 against Western Ontario.
A group of approximately 1,500 area elementary and middle school students were on hand to scream and cheer the Eagles on to victory and their presence helped the EMU offense roll up a 50-21 halftime lead on the way to the 71-point victory. The 119 points was the first 100-point effort for the Eagles since a 115-80 win over Concordia, Dec. 2, 2002.
Head coach Charles E. Ramsey’s Eagles had 11 players crack the scoring column with EMU sophomore forward Brandon Bowdry (St. Louis, Mo.-Taylor (Mich.) Truman) setting career bests in points and rebounds with 26 points and 14 rebounds. Freshman forward Branden Harrison (Houston, Texas-Milby) added 21 points while sophomore guard Solomon Farris (Detroit, Mich.-Osborn) chipped in 14 points and seven rebounds and junior center Justin Dobbins (Cleveland, Ohio-Glenville) scored 11 points with seven rebounds.
The Eagles shot 55.3 percent from the field (47-of-85) while holding Marygrove to just 22.8 percent (18-of-79). Eastern also posted a 73-37 advantage in rebounding.
Marygrove was led by Walt Williams with nine points while Darius Kellar and James Lomax added seven each.
Marygrove jumped out to a quick 7-3 lead in the game’s first three minutes with all seven coming off the hot hand of junior guard Walt Williams.
The Eagles came up with a flurry of their own after that slow beginning, however, running off 10 unanswered points to take a 12-7 lead at the 15:51 mark and the Eagles never looked back, building up a 50-21 halftime advantage. Bowdry led all scorers with 16 first-half points while Farris and Dobbins added nine each.
The Eagles will head to West Lafayette, Ind. Monday-Tuesday (Nov. 17-18) to play in the first round of Dick’s Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off. Eastern is slated to meet Purdue Monday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. in Mackey Arena. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Georgia and Loyola-Chicago will play at 9:30 p.m. Monday, with the two losing teams playing Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 4 p.m. and the winning teams squaring off at 7 p.m.
