With no time left on the clock, junior forward Jamell Harris threw up a three-point attempt that would tie the game. The ball bounced in and spun back out of the rim, bringing Eastern Michigan University’s men’s basketball team’s season to an end as Northern Illinois took the 55-52 victory against the Eagles on Monday night at the Convocation Center.
The Eagles, who had three players in double-digits, were led by Harris and senior guard Darrell Lampley with 13 points each. Lampley added six assists, and Harris led the defensive efforts with eight rebounds. After knocking down four triples on the night, Derek Thompson finished with 12 points. Antonio Green pitched in with five rebounds.
NIU was led by Tony Nixon’s game-high 14 points and 13 points from Aksel Bolin. Nixon, Bolin and Abdel Nader each recorded five boards on the night.
The Eagles finish their season with a 14-18 overall record (9-7 MAC) during head coach Rob Murphy’s first year in Ypsilanti. They also clinched the program’s first-ever MAC West Division title.
Eastern says goodbye to four seniors this year: Darrell Lampley, Antonio Green, Quintin Dailey and Kamil Janton.
Green, a guard out of Robichaud High School in Inkster, Michigan, made a name for himself as a three-pointer shooter early on in his EMU career. This season, he averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He finished the season 33 percent (35-105) from the perimeter. On Nov. 20 he put up a season-high 14 points against IUPUI and was perfect from downtown on four occasions.
Lampley transferred to Eastern last season from Lakeland Community College and stepped up as a senior to lead the team in a variety of ways. This season, he averaged a team-high 13.3 points and 3.2 assists. He scored a personal-best 37 points against Colgate (12/1), nine assists against Ohio University (2/11), and drained five triples against Texas Southern (11/15). He was an 84 percent free-throw shooter who was perfect at the stripe 15 times this season.
At the end of the season, Murphy was named the MAC Coach of the Year, and Lampley was named Third-Team All-MAC.
