Eagles Fall to #4/3 Orange in Murphy's Return to Syracuse

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team (4-3) dropped a road contest Tuesday, Nov. 29, at the Carrier Dome in a non-conference matchup with the #4/3 Syracuse Orange (7-0). Despite holding SU to just 32 first-half points in Head Coach Rob Murphy's first return to Syracuse since taking the head job at EMU, it was a 52-point burst from the Orange in the second half proved to be too much for the Eagles as they fell 84-48.

Leading the charge for the EMU offense was Darrell Lampley (Linden, N.J.-Linden (Lakeland C.C.)) as he dropped 19 points, while going 6-of-9 from the floor, including 3-for-5 from beyond the arc. As a team the Eagles shot .347 percent from the floor. Matt Balkema (Warren, Mich.-Cousino) showed his offensive presence as he scored nine points on a 4-for-6 performance. Eastern was out-rebounded 37-30 with a pair of Eagles grabbing four boards and a trio with three each.

The Orange was led by James Southerland with 19 points and five rebounds, while Kris Joseph and Brandon Triche notched 11 and 12 points respectively. Triche was 4-of-7 from the floor, with all of his shots coming from behind the three-point line. As a team, SU shot .500 percent from the floor going 32-of-64. Syracuse shot 13-of-30 from beyond the arc in the game, good for a .433 percent.

To open the game the Green and White jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead but a pair of buckets gave the Orange a 5-2 lead. Eastern went shot-for-shot with Syracuse until the 7:44 mark when things were nodded up at 21 points apiece. The Orange went on an 11-3 run to close out the half, giving them an eight-point, 32-24, lead at the break.

Lampley scored 12 points in the opening half to lead all scorers, while the other 12 points were scattered amongst five other Eagles. Eastern shot .455 from the floor in the first half going 10-of-22. Southerland led the Orange in the opening half with nine points.

Syracuse was lights out in the second half, shooting 21-of-40 from the floor, good for .525 percent. The Orange outscored EMU 52-24 in the second half with a 10-point performance from Southerland. Eastern shot just .259 percent in the second half as they fell by the final mark of 84-48 at the Carrier Dome.

Eastern continues their nine-game road swing Thursday, Dec. 1, when they travel to Hamilton, N.Y. to take on the Colgate Raiders (2-3). Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Cotterell Court. Earlier this month the Raiders fell to then #5/5 Syracuse at the Carrier Dome 92-47.

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Team Stats

Darrell Lampley

Matt Balkema

J.R. Sims

Antoine Chandler

Eastern Michigan Athletics