EMU Men's Hoops Soars Past Howard, 76-66

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team continued its perfect start to the season with a 76-66 win over Howard University Saturday, Nov. 18, inside the Convocation Center. The Eagles (4-0) squared off against the Bison (0-4) for the first time in program history as part of the 2017 Hoosier Tipoff Classic.

For the third time in four starts, redshirt junior Elijah Minnie (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Lincoln Park (Robert Morris)) eclipsed the 20-point mark, leading the Eagles with 21 points, while also adding six rebounds. Junior James Thompson IV (Baton Rouge, La.-Parkview Baptist) earned his fourth straight double-double to open the season, tallying 18 points and pulling down a team-high 14 rebounds. Redshirt junior Paul Jackson (Stone Mountain, Ga.-Martin Luther King Jr. (Eastern Kentucky)) contributed 16 points and a team-best six assists, while senior Tim Bond (Baltimore, Md.-City College) added seven points and led the Green and White with three steals.

The Eagles were dominant on the glass, out-rebounding the Bison, 47-26, including a season-high 15 offensive boards. EMU finished 43.6 percent from the field, converting on 24-for-55 field goal attempts, while Howard shot 40.4 percent on 23-of-57 shooting. Eastern was also the superior team at the free throw line, finishing 23-for-29 from the charity stripe, while the Bison were successful on 14-of-22 attempts.

Trailing by four in the early stages, Thompson helped spark the EMU offense, connecting on a hook shot before sinking a pair of free throws to level the score at 7-7 with 16:23 to go in the opening half. After the Bison scored the next four points, the Eagles responded with an 11-0 run lasting nearly four minutes to take an 18-11 lead with 11:51 left in the first period.

Leading by five, the Green and White used a 9-0 run to grab a 27-13 edge with just over eight minutes to play in the opening frame. In total, the Eagles used a 26-4 run lasting over nine minutes to take a convincing 33-15 lead with five minutes left in the opening stanza.

EMU wowed the home crowd with some entertaining dunks to wrap up the opening half, with Bond's alley-oop bookended by a pair of Minnie slams as the Green and White led 41-26 after 20 minutes. The Eagles took advantage of the Bison's early foul trouble, as the visitors picked up nine team fouls in the opening 8:09 of play. EMU finished a perfect 11-for-11 from the line in the opening half.

The Bison were once again plagued by early foul trouble, collecting seven team fouls less than five minutes into the second half. The Eagles capitalized on Howard's lack of discipline, hitting six free throws as part of a 10-0 run to take a 52-32 lead with 13:57 remaining in the contest.

Howard slowly cut the deficit to 13, but the Eagles fought back with a 7-0 run to capture a 70-50 lead with 7:10 left in the final half. Minnie split a pair of free throws before he and Harris connected on back-to-back triples to restore the Eagles' 20-point cushion. A trio of late three-pointers from the Bison briefly cut the EMU's advantage to single-digits, but the lead was never in doubt as the Eagles defeated Howard, 76-66 to give head coach Rob Murphy his third career 4-0 start and first since the 2014-15 campaign. The result is also the Bison's 10^th consecutive regular season road loss dating back to last season.

Eastern Michigan concludes the Hoosier Classic with their first away games of the season, traveling to Bloomington, Ind. to face Indiana Friday, Nov. 24 at 4:30 p.m., before heading to Tampa, Fla. Sunday, Nov. 26 for a 4 p.m. tilt against South Florida.

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Team Stats

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Paul Jackson

Tim Bond

Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Paul Jackson

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Players Mentioned

Tim Bond

Paul Jackson

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Eastern Michigan Athletics