High Flying Eagles Soar to 95-50 Victory Over Concordia

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — Eastern Michigan University's men's basketball came out victorious in the second contest of the 2013-14 campaign in a cross-county matchup against Concordia University, Nov. 12. The 95-50 win elevates the Eagles to a 2-0 record while Concordia falls to 1-3. It also marks the first time the Eagles have scored over 90 points since a matchup against Marygrove College, Nov. 14, 2008, in a 118-48 win for Eastern.

The Eagles were led by junior Karrington Ward (Lockport, Ill.-Lockport Twp. (Moraine Valley C.C.)), who posted 17 points, tying his career-high, after shooting 5-of-10 from the field and five-of-six from the free throw line. He also pulled down a team and career-high seven rebounds and tied with four other Eagles for the team-high in steals, with two.

Redshirt-senior Glenn Bryant (Detroit, Mich.-Oak Hill Academy (Arkansas)) tallied 14 points and two steals in the win, while Darell Combs (South Holland, Ill.-Thornwood (Blinn)) and Ray Lee (Detroit, Mich.-Romulus) netted 12 apiece. Mike Talley (Detroit, Mich.-Melvindale ABT (Duquesne)) added 10 points of his own while dishing out seven assists for the evening. Senior Da'Shonte Riley (Detroit, Mich.-Detroit Country Day (Syracuse)) rejected five Cardinal shots to pace the defense.

As a team, the Eagles shot 31-of-56 from the field for a 55.4% shooting percentage and went 63.6% from behind the three-point line, nailing 7-of-11 shots. The squad pulled down 37 rebounds and forced 30 Cardinal turnovers, while holding Concordia to a 28.6 percent shooting rate. Concordia was led by John Schaefer's 13 points, as he had a game-high in three-point shots after hitting four for the Cardinals.

The Cardinals were the first to light up the scoreboard, after a putback by Jesse Schienke gave Concordia an early lead. Daylen Harrison (Akron, Ohio-St. Vincent-St. Mary (Wyoming)) answered back with a bucket in the paint, after which Talley scored off a fastbreak to transfer leadership to the Eagles, 4-2. The Green and White would retain command of the matchup throughout the entirety of the evening.

Out of the first media timeout, Combs drained a shot from beyond the arc, but the contest remained scoreless for nearly two minutes before Ward added another three-pointer and then slammed one down off a Talley alley-oop on the fastbreak to bump the lead to a 14-5 advantage.

Bryant managed to contribute a pair of throw-downs while the relentless Eagle defense kept the Cardinals locked up at five points. A handful of shots at the charity stripe from Ward and Riley along with a Talley steal and fastbreak layup as well as a three-point shot out of the hands of Lee gave the Green and White a dominant 31-5 lead over Concordia with over six minutes remaining in the first half.

The Cardinals scored their next septet of points solely from free throws, but a deep three from Combs and an over-the-back dunk executed by Bryant inflated the scoring cushion to 30 as the Eagles remained in command with a 42-12 edge.

Concordia managed to break through the defensive shackles of the Green and White for a brief moment and added an additional five points to their count before the half closed out, but the deficit that was created during the earlier 25-0 run proved to be too detrimental as the Eagles left the hardwood with a 45-17 lead. During the EMU scoring run, the Eagles grabbed seven steals and forced an additional five turnovers while only relinquishing one turnover to the Cardinals.

Ward led at the half with 11 points and two steals to go with six rebounds. He and Combs were both a perfect two-for-two on three-point attempts. Talley and Bryant also contributed eight points in the first half of action.

Second half action opened up for the Eagles with a Lee drive to the paint and a spin around a Concordia defender for a quick bucket, after which Talley trickled in two off a layup. Meanwhile, Cardinal sharpshooter Schaeffer nailed three-of-three shots from behind the arc to help keep his squad on pace with the electric Eagle offense highlighted by dunks, dimes, and drained triples as Eastern led 59-31.

Over the next four minutes of play, the Cardinal defense picked up the pace but resulted in a handful of fouls, which the Green and White used to its advantage to continue scoring. A fastbreak layup by Bryant got the gears churning again, as the team created another run, scoring 12 points in the paint in a three-minute span.

Defensive efforts by the Eagles continued to subdue the Cardinals, as three blocks within a 90-second window by Riley allowed Eastern to accrue an additional seven points while holding Concordia to just two of its own.

EMU took advantage of its bench depth, as Mo Hughley (Queens Village, N.Y.-Martin Van Buren (CSU Bakersfield)) sunk two free throws, Anthony Strickland (Ypsilanti, Mich.-Dearborn Heights Robichaud (Adrian College)) broke away for an up-and-under, and Ali Farhat (Dearborn, Mich.-Dearborn) tripped up Cardinal players en route to the hoop for an uncontested layup to extend the lead to 93-48.

The final minute resulted in four extra points being put up between the two teams, as the Eagles solidified a 45-point margin of victory over the Cardinals, wrapping up the evening with a 95-50 win.

The Eagles will stay within the friendly confines of the Convocation Center for their next game, a 7:30 p.m. tilt against Robert Morris on Nov. 14. The game will be broadcast on Eagle All-Access and WEMU (FM 89.1).

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Team Stats

Karrington Ward

Glenn Bryant

Ray Lee

Darell Combs

Eastern Michigan Athletics