Eastern Michigan Athletics
Eastern Michigan University
4-3,0-0MAC
North Dakota
5-1,0-0Summit League
Acuff Scores 31 as Eagles Edged by North Dakota, 72-70
11/26/2023 4:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Acuff scores 20-plus in fifth-straight game
CONWAY, Ark. (EMUEagles.com) – Junior Tyson Acuff (Detroit, Mich./Cass Technical/Duquesne) dropped 31 points to lead the Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team in a narrow 72-70 loss against the University of North Dakota Sunday, Nov. 26, inside the Farris Center. The contest was the Eagles' final game of the Central Arkansas Classic.
Acuff drilled a three-pointer with 13 seconds left to cut the Eagle deficit to one, but the Eagles were unable to capitalize on a trio of missed free throws down the stretch by the Hawks.
How It Happened
After falling behind, 25-18, Eastern Michigan went on a 7-0 run with 6:30 left in the first half, culminating in a bucket from freshman Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Dream City Christian), to tie the game at 25. North Dakota then pulled ahead, sending the Eagles into halftime down, 34-32.
After intermission, Eastern Michigan managed to gain control and had a 45-41 lead before going on a 5-0 run, finished off by redshirt sophomore Legend Geeter's (Rouge River, Mich./River Rouge) layup, to grow the lead to 50-41 with 13:08 to go in the contest. North Dakota then asserted control, outscoring the Eagles, 31-20, the rest of the way to hand Eastern Michigan the 72-70 loss. Eastern Michigan took care of business in the paint, recording 22 of its 38 points in the lane.
Game Notes
» Eastern moved to 4-3 on the season while North Dakota moved to 5-1.
» Eastern Michigan was 27-of-55 (49.1%) from the floor and 8-of-15 (53.3%) from three-point range while North Dakota was 22-of-52 (42.3%) from the floor and 7-of-22 (31.8%) from three-point range.
» Acuff scored 31 points, marking the ninth time he has scored 20-plus points in a game and fourth time he has scored 30-plus points. Acuff has scored 20-plus points in five-straight games for the first time in his career.
» Acuff has scored at least 13 points in each of the first seven games of the 2023-24.
» Acuff is the only player in the MAC with multiple 30-point outings as he also scored 31 points against Cleveland State, Nov. 18. Acuff is also one of four players in the nation with multiple 31-plus point games (Touko Tainamo, University of Denver; Tucker DeVries, Drake University; Jayden Epps, Georgetown University).
» Acuff surpassed 100 career three-point makes with his five made three-pointers and sits at 104 career three-pointers made. Acuff is at 825 career points. Acuff netted 38 three-pointers and 239 points in his two seasons at Duquesne.
» EMU had three players with double-figure points for the fourth-straight game and fourth time this season [Acuff, 31; Osojnik, 12; Geeter, 11].
» Osojnik tallied a game-high two blocks, his first career multi-block performance, to go with 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting.
» Eastern, which hit eight threes against North Dakota, has now hit at least one triple in 589-straight games. EMU last failed to score from downtown Jan. 24, 2004, when Miami University held the Eagles to 0-of-7 from behind the arc.
Historical Notes
» Sunday's meeting was the second-ever meeting between Eastern Michigan and North Dakota. UND leads the series, 2-0.
Next Up
Eastern Michigan is scheduled to play Lake Superior State University Friday, Dec. 1, at 7 p.m. inside the George Gervin GameAbove Center.
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