Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
10-18 (5-12MAC)
Northern Illinois
8-18 (5-11MAC)
Farrakhan Drops 31 Points in Eastern Michigan's 74-72 win over Northern Illinois
2/22/2022 9:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Eagles shot well from three-point range, knocking down 7-of-15 (46.6%) long-range attempts
Postgame Presser | Photo Gallery | Video Recap.
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team came away with a much-needed win over Northern Illinois University, 74-72, tonight, Feb. 22, inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
Freshman Noah Farrakhan (Newark, N.J.-The Patrick School (East Carolina)) was the 'X factor' tonight as he dropped a career-high 31 points to pace all scorers and dished out four assists. Classmate Mo Njie (Centerville, Ohio-Centerville (DME Sports Academy)) produced personal-bests in points (16), field goals made (6), field goals attempted (8), and free throw attempts (7). Senior captain Darion Spottsville (Phoenix, Ariz.-Shadow Mountain (South Mountain C.C.)) chipped in with eight points and four assists, while fellow senior Monty Scott (Union, N.J.-St. Benedict's Prep (Portland State)) added seven points and a team-leading seven dimes.
Defensively, Spottsville hauled in 11 rebounds, and recorded one block and one steal. Senior Nate Scott (Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley (Northern Illinois)) paced the Eagles with three blocks, while M. Scott swiped two balls. The EMU defense was a problem in Tuesday's game, forcing 13 Northern Illinois turnovers. Those takeaways turned into 17 points on the offensive end of the floor.
How It Happened
After falling behind 24-22, Eastern Michigan went on a 12-0 run with 7:50 left in the first half to take a 34-24 lead. The Eagles then lost some of their advantage, but still entered halftime with a 40-34 advantage. EMU capitalized on eight Northern Illinois turnovers in the period, turning them into 10 points on the other end of the floor.
Eastern Michigan kept its lead intact before going on a 7-0 run, finished off by Njie's layup, to grow the advantage to 71-62 with 4:01 to go in the contest. The Huskies narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Eagles still held on for the 74-72 win. Eastern Michigan took care of business in the paint, recording 20 of its 34 points in the lane.
Game Notes
» The Eagles shot well from three-point range, knocking down 7-of-15 (46.6%) long-range attempts. EMU has connected on 7-or-more three-pointers in 15 games this season. Additionally, the Green and White's performance was the sixth reaching the 40-percent plateau from beyond-the-arc.
» The Green and White's two-point victory gave EMU its sixth win this season in games decided by five-points-or less. Eastern's overall record in those games thus far in the 2021-22 campaign is 6-2.
» Farrakhan and Njie carried the load for the Eagles, accounting for 64 percent of their points.
» Eastern Michigan had a 37-26 edge on the boards in the win, marking the 13th time EMU has forced their opponents to commit at least 10 turnovers in conference play.
» The Eastern Michigan defense forced 13 turnovers.
» Farrakhan scored 23 first-half points on perfect 8-of-8 shooting from the floor. That number is tied for the second-best first-half effort by any Eagle since the start of the 2016-17 season. Former Eagle Raven Lee dropped 26 in the first half against CMU en route to a 50-point game, Feb. 28, 2017, while Willie Mangum IV had 23 against Gardner Webb, Nov. 18, 2016.
» Farrakhan's 31 points marked a career-high while donning the Green and White. The last Eagle to drop 30 points in a game was Noah Morgan who tallied 31 points at Kent State on 11-of-18 (61.1%) shooting from the field, including 6-of-11 (54.5%) from three-point land. Moreover, the guard's 11 makes tie his personal-best, while his field goal percentage 78.5% (11-of-14) is a season-best.
» Eastern Michigan recorded 17 total assists in the game, the most it has recorded in a game all season. Additionally, it was the second time the Eagles have dished out at least 15 assists and 16th outing with 10-or-more.
» Spottsville's 11 boards was the first outing of his career recording double-digits in rebounds.
» The Eagles out-rebounded NIU 37-26, tying the team's season-high rebounding margin in a game this season.
» N. Scott rejected a career-high three blocks to lead the team. The performance by the senior is his sixth multiple-block game this season.
Historical Notes
» NIU still holds the series advantage 57-46. Eastern has been dominant at home against Northern, posting an 18-8 tally in Ypsilanti
» With 31 points, Noah Farrakhan has now passed Raven Lee and Earl Boykins for the 2nd most points by a freshman in EMU history. He now only trails James Thompson IV in this historical feat. Farrakhan now has 396 points on the season.
» With 10 wins, Head Coach Stan Heath became just the eight EMU head coach since 1940 to win 10 + games in their first season as the head coach. Since the beginning of World War II, only seven of the program's 15 bench bosses have hit double-digits in victories.
Up Next
Eastern Michigan travels to the Hoosier State to take on Ball State University on Saturday, Feb. 26. Tip-off is set for 3:30 P.M. The game can be streamed on ESPN3 and fans can also tune into WEMU 89.1 FM with Tom Helmer on the call.
