The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team ended Saturday’s doubleheader with a 68-55 win over the Ohio University Bobcats. EMU finished its season against the Mid-American Conference East division opponents and is now two games ahead of Ball State in the MAC West.
Junior guard Derek Thompson had a brilliant performance coming off the bench and scored a season-high 23 points along with three rebounds. Senior guard Antonio Green contributed 13 points and two assists before fouling out. Senior guard Darrell Lampley scored nine points, but forced two steals and collected nine assists.
Coach Rob Murphy was impressed with Thompson’s performance when he had scoring chances.
“When it was [Derek’s] chance to step up and make some shots, he did that and I’m very proud of him,” Murphy said.
Ohio junior guard D.J. Cooper was the top scorer for the Bobcats with 15 points despite going 3-for-12 on field goals and 3-for-10 behind the three-point line. Junior forward Reggie Keely earned 14 points with 11 rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Walter Offutt fouled out with 11 points, four rebounds and two steals.
Eastern (11-14, 6-5 MAC) finished the game with a 66.7 field goal percentage from the three-point line, its best performance all season. The EMU defense reduced Ohio (19-6, 7-4 MAC) to a field-goal percentage of 31.3 percent. Murphy sees his team continuing to improve when shooting from the three-point stripe.
“Our percentages have not been great throughout the year, but as the season went on, we continued to work hard and we’re getting better every day,” Murphy said.
EMU scored first with Green getting the first five points for the Eagles. Ohio wasn’t able to score until passed the halfway mark in the first half with EMU leading 9-2. The Eagles went on a 10-2 run as the half went on and had a 27-17 lead at halftime.
The Eagles increased their lead by 12 points in the second half on junior forward Jamell Harris’ tip about four minutes into the half. Harris also highlighted the period with a slam-dunk assisted by Thompson.
With less than three minutes left in the game, Ohio trailed by only five points with a three-point shot by Cooper. Eastern Michigan had a 6-0 run in the next minute and never looked back. Ohio continued to intentionally foul EMU players to go to the free throw line, which sealed the game.
Both the men’s and women’s teams celebrated Polish-American Day during the basketball doubleheader. Fans were treated to a performance by Polish singer Madga Kaminski. Kaminski also sang the Polish and American national anthems before the women’s basketball game. A local Polish dancing troupe also performed some Polish folk dances on the court.
Eastern Michigan will go on the road to play MAC rival Central Michigan in Mount Pleasant Tuesday and then travel to Green Bay for the ESPN Bracket Buster game Saturday. EMU returns to the Convocation Center Feb. 22 to take on Northern Illinois for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
