The Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team faced their fourth loss in the Mid-American Conference after falling to the Bowling Green State University Falcons 74-58 at the Stroh Center in Bowling Green, Ohio.
The Eagles took control of the game at the beginning of the first half, leading with a score of 14-11.The game began to go downhill for the Eagles as the Falcons dropped back to back 3-point shots that pushed them into the lead for the remainder of the game.
“We’re not scoring the ball and we have to find ways to make those shots,” EMU’s head coach Rob Murphy said.
According to his news conference interview, Murphy states that the team is capable of getting good looks on the shots, but the main issue is getting the ball in for scoring, which was something the Eagles had trouble with during the game against the Falcons.
During the second half, the Eagles cut the Falcons 12 point lead down to 9 after Raven Lee (G) answered with two huge back to back shots from behind the arc, with less than 7 minutes in the game. Unfortunately, Eastern could not keep the momentum for the rest of the game causing the Falcons to take a 74-58 win.
“Bowling Green did a good job of defending us,” Murphy said. “We couldn’t get any shots to go down and it’s very hard to get consecutive stops if you're not scoring.”
Eastern averaged a 36.4 FG percentage, including a 29 percent 3-point average and 59.9 percent shooting from behind the free-throw line. Bowling Green averaged a 45.5 FG percentage which included 44 percent 3-point shooting and 59 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
The Eagle’s freshman guard, Tim Bond, led the team in scoring a career high of 13 points including 4-6 from the free-throw line. Raven Lee added 11 to the Eagles 58 points while Karrington Ward (F) added 9 points and 5 rebounds. Anali Okoloji (F) led the Eagles rebounds with 9 while Jordan Price grabbed 6.
After the battle between the two birds, the Eagles now hold a season record of 12-6 and a 1-4 record in the MAC. The Falcons records 12-4 in the season with a 4-1 record in the MAC.
On Saturday, Jan. 24, the Eagles will then head up to Mount Pleasant, Michigan to face off Central Michigan University. Tip off is at 4:30.
The game can be heard on WEMU 89.1 FM radio and broadcast on ESPN3 TV.
