The Eastern Michigan Eagles fell to the Buffalo Bulls 75-53 this weekend at the Convocation Center marking only the second home loss of the season.
This marked the first home game for the Eagles since the death of teammate Shannise Heady on Sunday Jan. 25th.
Sasha Dailey and Cha Sweeney led in scoring for the Eagles with 12 points apiece. This marks Freshman Dailey’s third consecutive game as leading scorer.
While the Eagles (10-9, 3-5 MAC) grabbed the first basket of the contest with a jumper from Dailey not even a minute into the game, the Bulls (11-8, 4-4 MAC) took the lead soon after 17:35 in the first half and did not let go for the rest of the game.
Offensively the Bulls were a force to be reckoned with, shooting an impressive 50 percent from the arc in the first half. The teams went into halftime with Buffalo leading 40-31 with 18 of Buffalos' points coming from three-pointers.
The Eagles came out of the locker room to go on a 6-0 run and this combined with tough defense put the Bulls in a 5-minute scoring drought early in the second half. The Eagles were able to bring the deficit to just four with 14 minutes left to play, leaving the score at 46-42.
Unfortunately, the Eagles 25 percent shooting in the second proved to be no match for the Bulls 48 percent, and with each possession the Bulls pull the deficit a little larger. When the buzzer sounded the Bulls had their largest lead of the game with 22 points, ending the contest 75-53.
As it has been recently, Eastern defense proved to be one of the best parts of their game. The Eagles forced 23 turn overs and scored 18 points off of them. Janay Morton led with five steals.
The Eagles will head to Kent State next Wednesday evening for some more MAC play.
