EMU Records 41-38 Win Over Toledo

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team kept a share of the Mid-American Conference West Division lead with a nail-biting 41-38 win over the University of Toledo here Saturday, Jan. 21, afternoon at the Convocation Center.

With the score tied at 36-all with 3:05 left in the game, senior guard Quintin Dailey (Las Vegas, Nev.-Bishop Gorman-Sheridan C.C.) hit his second consecutive three-point field goal to put the Eagles up by three, 39-36.

EMU junior forward Jamell Harris (Euclid, Ohio-Euclid) would then slam home a dunk with 2:20 left to boost EMU to a 41-36 advantage.

Toledo's Rian Pearson would cut the lead to three, 41-38, on a layup with 1:56 left and that score would hold for a final.

Toledo had one shot to tie the game with nine seconds left, but it fell short and EMU controlled the rebound and held on to the ball for the victory.

The 4-1 MAC start by Head Coach Rob Murphy's Eagles is the best for an EMU team since the 1996-97 squad posted a 4-1 start. EMU is 9-10 overall.

Eastern did not have a player in double figures as Darrell Lampley (Linden, N.J.-Linden-Lakeland C.C.) had nine points with Harris adding eight and Matt Balkema (Warren, Mich.-Cousino) finishing with seven points and eight rebounds.

Toledo, now 9-10 overall and 1-4 in MAC action, was led by Rian Pearson with 12.

Eastern would finish the game shooting 32.6 percent, making 15-of-46 shots from the field while Toledo made just 30 percent of its attempts, hitting 15-of-50. Eastern also held a large, 40-27, rebound advantage.

The two teams suffered through some poor shooting and sloppy ball handling in the first half.

Eastern would jump out to a 10-4 lead through the first nine minutes of the game.

Toledo would then respond with a 10-0 run to go up 14-10 with 6:38 left.

Eastern would finally break a seven-minute scoreless streak with two free throws by Lampley to make it 14-12 at the 4:41 mark.

The last scoring of the half came at the 3:41 mark when EMU's Derek Thompson (Detroit, Mich.-Melvindale-SEMO) hit a long three to give the Eagles a 15-14 lead into intermission.

EMU shot just 25 percent in the first half, making 5-of-20 field-goal attempts while Toledo was shooting just 21.7 percent on 5-of-23. Eastern turned it over 11 times while Toledo had eight. The Eagles held a 19-14 rebound edge in the first half.

The offense picked up a touch at the beginning of the second half as Eastern went up by four, 24-20, with 14:07 left on a triple by Lampley.

Toledo would answer that surge with five consecutive points of its own for a 25-24 lead at the 13:20 mark.

Eastern would build several leads over the next few minutes, but the Rockets continued to have answers and came back to tie the game at 36-all on a triple by Brown with 4:50 remaining.

The Eagles will stay begin a six-game swing into MAC East Division play with a Tuesday, Jan. 24, game at the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y.

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Team Stats

Darrell Lampley

Jamell Harris

Matt Balkema

Quintin Dailey

Eastern Michigan Athletics