The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team began their season with an exhibition contest against Marygrove College on Monday at the Convocation Center with a 101-38 win.
“We came out, I thought we were aggressive,” EMU coach Rob Murphy said. “Defensively, we forced them into some contested shots and some turnovers early. We were able to get some transition points and get out to a lead. The second half was the same thing. We wanted to work on our defense, work on our pressure, make sure we are putting guys in position to be successful on the defensive side of the ball and that’s forcing contested shots, rebounding the ball, and forcing transition.”
EMU dominated in the paint, scoring 56 points and their bench also had 50 points.
Eagles redshirt junior guard Mike Talley shot 4-of-6 on field goals.
Redshirt senior forward Glenn Bryant shot 8-14 from the floor and senior forward Daylen Harrison went 7-7 on free throws.
The Mustangs hit just two three-point shots as a team.
EMU guards Ray Lee and Darell Combs sat out the game.
“It was a coach’s decision,” Murphy said. “I wanted to hold those guys off and make sure they’re healthy. We have a day off so they’ll be able to get treatment and make sure their bodies are healthy; and then we’ll be able to practice and get ready for our season opener. Both those guys we’ll be ready to go on Friday, but I just wanted to hold them off tonight to make sure they’re fully healthy.”
Lee was the No. 19 point guard in the country coming out of high school a season ago.
Talley came out strong early, leading the Eagles to a 14-0 start with a breakaway, two free throws, and a three-pointer.
Marygorve’s Cheikh Ka came out of the media timeout with 15:51 left in the opening half and scored the first points for Marygrove to reduce Eastern’s lead to 14-3.
After consecutive dunks by Bryant, the Eagles cruised to the half with their largest lead of the contest, 45-17.
Eastern cruised through the second half, holding a steady 30 point lead, until a dominant 21-0 run by that lasted six minutes and was capped off with two dunks and a block from Bryant.
The Eagles led 81-30 with five minutes left and broke 100 points on a layup with 0.4 seconds left.
“We didn’t shoot the ball from the outside particularly well today,” Murphy said. “I think that’s because it’s the first game, it’s the first time the lights are on and the refs are out and we’re in uniform. Some of our guys have got to get used to playing division one basketball, with our junior college transfers. I thought overall we played well, we rebounded well, and we were able to come out with the victory tonight.”
Game Note:
The Eagles are 3-0 all-time against the Mustangs. The last time these two teams met on Nov. 7, 2011 the Eagles closed out their exhibition season with a win against the Mustangs, 85-51.
Looking Ahead:
The Eagles begin regular season play on Nov. 8 at Noon against Albion at the Convocation Center.
Eastern is also in action Tuesday Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. against Concordia at the Convocation Center.
Both games can be heard on WEMU 89.1 FM
