Eagles Conquer Britons in Season Opener, 77-45

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YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com)— Eastern Michigan University's men's basketball team secured a victory in its home opener against Albion College, Friday, Nov. 8. The 77-45 home opener gives the Eagles a 1-0 record.

Eastern had four Eagles in double digit scoring, led by Karrington Ward (Lockport, Ill.-Lockport Township (Moraine Valley)) with 17 points in the afternoon contest. Ray Lee (Detroit, Mich.-Romulus) and Glenn Bryant (Detroit, Mich.-Oak Hill Academy (Arkansas)) had 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Mike Talley (Detroit, Mich.-Melvindale ABT) contributed 10. Talley, Darell Combs (Chicago, Ill.-Thornwood (Blinn College)) and Da'Shonte Riley (Detroit, Mich.-Country Day) each dished out four assists in the win. Riley's four dimes were a career-high.

Defensively, Riley tied his career-high in blocks, rejecting seven of the Britons' shots and led the team in steals with three. He also tied for a team-high in rebounds with Talley, pulling down five. The entire EMU squad put in a solid effort under the glass, as they out-rebounded Albion 41 to 33.

Albion was led by Jordan Herron, who scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Britons. Overall, the Britons were held to a mere 25 percentage on field goals, while the Eagles retained a success rate of 50.8 percent. Additionally, the Green and White dropped in seven-of-15 three-point attempts, good for a 46.7 percentage.

Ward got the Green and White on the board with a long jumper. A Talley dish to Lee beyond the arc quickly put the Eagles up 5-0 over the Britons, aided by Riley's back-to-back rejections on attempted Albion shots.

The Britons found their first points of the contest with a pair of free throws after being held scoreless for three and a half minutes. A Riley handoff to Bryant under the basket resulted in a drawn foul and a three-point play for the Eagles, sending the Eagles into double digits and increasing the lead, 11-2.

Coming out of the second media timeout, aggressive defensive pressure by the Green and White forced an Albion turnover, which the Eagles used to their advantage as Ward drained back-to-back three-pointers. The Britons answered back with a three of their own by Zach Hurth, but the Eagles retained a substantial edge, sitting at 17-7 over the opposition.

Lee found Olalekan Ajayi (Winston-Salem, N.C.-Quality Education Academy (Collin College)) in the paint to start off a 7-0 run, and after the Britons managed to score off a mid-range jumper from Carter Elliot, EMU ran off four points within 20 seconds courtesy of a slam dunked tip-in by Riley and a Lee fast break teardrop shot over the Briton defensive effort, increasing the lead to a 20-point margin with the Eagles on the winning side of the 29-9 advantage.

Anthony Strickland (Ypsilanti, Mich.-D.H. Roubichaud (Adrian)) found the backboard to land a layup to give the Eagles their last points of the first half. The Green and White held the Britons to just three field goals out of an attempted 24 shots for a 12.5 percentage. Meanwhile, the Green and White had quadrupled that count, making 12-of-27 for a 44.4 percentage. Talley led going into the locker room with 10 points for the squad, and Riley dominated under the hoop, rejecting five shots and pulling down four rebounds.

The Eagles were the first to score coming into the second half after a shot from Ward behind the charity stripe and a layup from Daylen Harrison (Akron, Ohio-St. Vincent-St. Mary (Wyoming)) put the Green and White up 34-11. Riley's sixth block of the afternoon put the rock into Ward's hands, who ran down the court for a fastbreak dunk. The Britons were able to get their offense going, rattling off six points in under two minutes, but a turnaround jumper from Riley and Lee's second three point play prevented Albion from stringing any points together and built the lead in the season opening contest to 41-18.

Albion picked up its effort in the paint, led by Jordan Herron scoring inside the key twice in a 30-second span. The Briton's managed to keep pace with the Eagles, scoring 14 points in the first half to battle the Eagles' 17-point effort. They had a great deal of ground to cover, however, as the Eagle's first-half effort left them a comfortable cushion at 48-25. The Green and White cut their visiting team no slack, as two jumpers from Glenn Bryant and a three from Sims extended Albion's deficit to nearly 30 points.

The Britons Eric Evans and Carter Elliott served as the catalysts for their squad, combining for nine points in just over a minute of play, bringing the score to 60-36. Talley broke away to hit a layup and a three for Eastern, after which Ward nailed two free throws and Harrison placed a jumper to put the Eagles up 71-40 with under four minutes remaining.

The Eagles continued to be a force in the paint, as back-to-back-to-back dunks from Ajayi and Bryant closed out the second half, bringing the final score to 77-45. With the win, the Eagles are 68-49 all-time in season openers. The 32-point victory margin is one point more than when the Eagles and the Britons last met on the hardwood in 2003.

The Green and White will remain at home for the next four contests. On Nov. 12, they will host Concordia at 7 p.m., followed by a matchup against Robert Morris on Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

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Team Stats

Karrington Ward

Ray Lee

Glenn Bryant

Mike Talley

Eastern Michigan Athletics