Eastern Michigan Athletics
Tuesday, February 27
Kalamazoo, Mich.
7 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
19-11, 10-7MAC
74
at
58
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Western Michigan
17-13, 9-8MAC
1
2
F
Eastern Michigan
35
39
74
Western Michigan
24
34
58
Eastern Punches Ticket to Cleveland with 74-58 Win Over Western
2/27/2018 9:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Paul Jackson's 21 points led four Eagles that finished in double-figures
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KALAMAZOO, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team came away with one of its biggest wins of the season Tuesday, Feb. 27, taking down Western Michigan University, 74-58, at University Arena to clinch a first round bye in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
With the win, EMU (19-11, 10-7 MAC) punches its ticket to Cleveland with a first round bye. The Eagles, who could still be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, hold the tie-break advantage over WMU (17-13, 9-8 MAC), and any other team they may tie in the final season standings.
Eastern's 10 wins in MAC play match its best in the Rob Murphy era, when the Green and White finished 10-8 in 2013-14. It's also the first win for the Eagles in Kalamazoo since Feb. 29, 2012.
EMU was led by its upper-classmen in the big road win, as redshirt junior Paul Jackson (Stone Mountain, Ga.-Martin Luther King Jr. (Eastern Kentucky)) scored a game-high 21 points while also dishing out eight assists. Fellow redshirt junior Elijah Minnie (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Lincoln Park (Robert Morris)) dropped in 18 with a game-high nine boards. Junior James Thompson IV (Baton Rouge, La.-Parkview Baptist) added 14 points and seven rebounds, while senior Tim Bond (Baltimore, Md.-College Park) added 10 points, eight boards, six assists, and four steals.
The Eagles rode an 18-0 first half run to erase an early deficit and build a halftime lead to 35-24. Eastern shot an impressive 41.9 percent from the floor in the opening stanza, including a 36.8 percent mark from downtown, while holding the Broncos to 30.6 percent from the floor and just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.
When Western inched the game closer in the second half, it was a Minnie triple that pushed the lead from five to eight, and the Broncos would get no closer the rest of the way. Eastern led the game for nearly the entire way, trailing for just 2:03.
For the game, the Eagles shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the floor and 37 percent (10-of-27) from downtown. Perhaps more impressively, EMU held Western to 37 percent (22-of-59) from the floor and a meager 21 percent (3-of-14) from the three-point line. Eastern also won the turnover battle, forcing WMU into 10 in the game while only committing six themselves. Astonishingly enough, no single player had more than one turnover for the Green and White.
Eastern wraps up the regular season with a Friday, March 2, showdown at the University of Toledo. The Eagles and Rockets tip off at 6 p.m. and will be on a national broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team came away with one of its biggest wins of the season Tuesday, Feb. 27, taking down Western Michigan University, 74-58, at University Arena to clinch a first round bye in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
With the win, EMU (19-11, 10-7 MAC) punches its ticket to Cleveland with a first round bye. The Eagles, who could still be either the No. 3 or No. 4 seed, hold the tie-break advantage over WMU (17-13, 9-8 MAC), and any other team they may tie in the final season standings.
Eastern's 10 wins in MAC play match its best in the Rob Murphy era, when the Green and White finished 10-8 in 2013-14. It's also the first win for the Eagles in Kalamazoo since Feb. 29, 2012.
EMU was led by its upper-classmen in the big road win, as redshirt junior Paul Jackson (Stone Mountain, Ga.-Martin Luther King Jr. (Eastern Kentucky)) scored a game-high 21 points while also dishing out eight assists. Fellow redshirt junior Elijah Minnie (Pittsburgh, Pa.-Lincoln Park (Robert Morris)) dropped in 18 with a game-high nine boards. Junior James Thompson IV (Baton Rouge, La.-Parkview Baptist) added 14 points and seven rebounds, while senior Tim Bond (Baltimore, Md.-College Park) added 10 points, eight boards, six assists, and four steals.
The Eagles rode an 18-0 first half run to erase an early deficit and build a halftime lead to 35-24. Eastern shot an impressive 41.9 percent from the floor in the opening stanza, including a 36.8 percent mark from downtown, while holding the Broncos to 30.6 percent from the floor and just 28.6 percent from beyond the arc.
When Western inched the game closer in the second half, it was a Minnie triple that pushed the lead from five to eight, and the Broncos would get no closer the rest of the way. Eastern led the game for nearly the entire way, trailing for just 2:03.
For the game, the Eagles shot 50 percent (26-of-52) from the floor and 37 percent (10-of-27) from downtown. Perhaps more impressively, EMU held Western to 37 percent (22-of-59) from the floor and a meager 21 percent (3-of-14) from the three-point line. Eastern also won the turnover battle, forcing WMU into 10 in the game while only committing six themselves. Astonishingly enough, no single player had more than one turnover for the Green and White.
Eastern wraps up the regular season with a Friday, March 2, showdown at the University of Toledo. The Eagles and Rockets tip off at 6 p.m. and will be on a national broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
Team Stats
EMU
WMU
FG%
.500
.373
3FG%
.370
.214
FT%
.800
.846
RB
29
35
TO
7
10
STL
6
2
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
6
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballF/C
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