The Eastern Michigan men's basketball team improved their start to the season by defeating Rochester College Warriors 68-35 and raised their overall record to 6-0.
The Eagles went into the half with a 42-15 lead. The first half made the difference with the Eagles shooting 42.9 percent from the field while Rochester struggled with shooting 14.8 percent. The Eagles' biggest lead came in the second half with 4:25 left, when they led by 35.
On the undefeated start, Eastern Michigan head coach Rob Murphy said how hard it is "especially with six new faces, losing eight guys early you tend to struggle."
"These new guys are really buying into what we teach and understand our philosophies throughout our program is really good," Murphy said.
With the 6-0 start, this is the best record the Eagles have started since the 96-97 season where they started 6-0 as well.
Karrington Ward led the way with 14 points and had 4 steals, while MAC West player of the week Ray Lee struggled with his shot for the first time this year, shooting 2 for 9 from the field and only scoring 7 points, dropping his points per game to 16.2.
Rochester forward Milton Cribbs led the Warriors with 12 points.
Eagles forward Jodan Price continues to struggle with his three-point shot after going 0 for 5 today.
Murphy said after the game that he trusts that "every time [Price] shoots he is confident it will go in."
"We want to give him as many minutes early going into the MAC season," Murphy said.
Notes:
Olalekan Ajayi did not see much playing time today and didn't play at all in the first half, with Mike Samuels and Jerome Hunter splitting time at center.
Sophomore guard Ali Farhat, who has not been dressed to play this year, was suited up to play but did not touch the court. Freshman guard Tim Bond still has a cast on his right hand.
Junior forward Brandon Nazione had a career day in scoring with 9 points.
Looking Ahead:
The Eagles have Marygrove next on their schedule on Monday, December 1st at the Convocation Center. They then have the road gauntlet of playing Dayton, Michigan, Michigan State and Missouri State before returning home December 23rd against Coppin State.
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