As the Ice Man Classic continued Nov. 17, the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team beat the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne Mastodons with a final score of 60-47.
Eagles center Da’Shonte Riley won the opening tip-off and the team got on the board quickly after a Derek Thompson three-pointer. IPFW forward Luis Jacobo responded with one of his own to tie the score at 3-3.
IPFW’s Kevin Harden hit a 3-pointer soon after, but EMU redshirt junior Glenn Bryant hit a mid-range shot to cut their lead to 6-5.
Only 3:10 into the game, Riley committed his second personal foul and headed to the bench. He was replaced by senior center Matt Balkema.
After IPFW’s Frank Gaines scored four points, Isaiah McCray hit a three-pointer to extend their lead to 14-8 with 15:21 to go in the half.
IPFW went on a 7-0 run until EMU’s true freshman Ray Lee hit a field goal and a pair of free throws. The Eagles, however, still trailed the Mastodons 16-12.
The Eagles started to make a strong comeback with a layup by freshman point guard Jalen Ross and Balkema, then a pair of free throws by Bryant, only trailing the Mastodons by one point with
7:09 to go in the half.
The Eagles took the lead back after Thompson got his second steal of the night, followed by his eighth point, putting them ahead 25-24 with 4:55 to go in the half. Thompson then created his third steal and scored on a fast break layup.
IPFW’s Gaines missed his 3-pointer to be rebounded by Balkema, who found Thompson to make a three-pointer for his 13th point of the night, putting the Eagles ahead 32-27 at the half.
Bryant opened up the second half with a dunk to put the Eagles up 34-27. This was his sixth point of the night.
Thompson took his fourth steal of the evening and found Jamell Harris for a fast break dunk. The team took a 42-35 lead at that point.
Riley picked up his fourth personal foul with 3:36 to go in the half, where IPFW cut the lead to 49-43 after Gaines hit only one of his free throws.
Thompson drove in a layup for his 17th point of the night with 2:01 to go, extending their lead to 53-45.
With a minute and a half to go in the game, redshirt junior Daylen Harrison earned his first assist, connecting with Riley on the alley-oop.
Harris blocked the shot of IPFW’s Pierre Bland and Harrison pulled down the rebound. He found Harris who slammed home EMU’s final points of the game. EMU earned the 60-47 victory.
Thompson led the Eagles offensively, finishing the day with 17 points. He also had four steals and was 3-6 from three-point range while playing for 30 minutes.
The starters hit 15 out of their 37 attempted field goals, totaling 47 points and the bench was responsible for the other 13.
Harris led the bench with seven points. He put in a pair of field goals and three free throws. He also had two rebounds and two blocks to help out on defense. Harris had 24 minutes of playing time.
Harrison had a big day on defense. He put up eight points of his own, but only shot 25 percent from the floor. Harrison led the team with eight rebounds, three of them resulted in second chances, and caused two turnovers.
Riley led the team defensively with four of their seven blocks of the night.
EMU only shot 39.6 percent from the floor, but hit 70.4 percent of their free throws for 19 points, which was the major difference in the game.
The final game for EMU’s Ice Man Classic series will be on Nov. 18 where they will take on the Texas-Pan American Broncs. As of press time, the results of that game were not available.
