Coming off two straight wins, the Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team was handed a 22-point defeat at the hands of the University of Ohio Bobcats Tuesday night in Athens, Ohio.
Eastern Michigan guard Willie Mangum was the top scorer for the Eagles with 19 points but the top scorer of the game would be Antonio Campbell of Ohio, finishing with 33 points and 11 rebounds.
“I give Campbell a lot of credit, in particular their team for finding throughout the first half," EMU coach Rob Murphy said. “He was really a monster inside and posed a lot of problems for us.”
The Eagles started the game off trailing 5-0 in the first two minutes. The Eagles would then slowly catch up and trade baskets until the game was tied at 28. Ohio then took a three point lead and extended the lead to seven with fewer than two minutes left in the first half. The Eagles trailed 39-31 at the half.
“Sometimes you take average shots, and then you take good shots, but every shot they took was a great shot," Murphy said.
“I thought the first half we did a pretty good job of keeping them off balance,” Murphy said. “We were right there in the game and then the last four minutes we didn’t close the half well.”
The Eagles started the second half with two turnovers and a foul, giving Ohio a 12 point lead. Play continued until Thompson and Gavin Block got into a tie-up and exchanged words. Both teams separated the two but both players were given a technical foul. For Thompson, it was his second technical this season.
The Bobcats maintained their double digit lead throughout the majority of the second half until the Eagles cut the lead to seven in part to a layup by Tim Bond. The Eagles would be dealt a severe loss as Thompson received his second technical foul and was ejected from the game with eight minutes remaining.
“James got a little frustrated tonight. He has to control his emotions," Murphy said. “He’s a freshman, he has to learn to control his emotions. He got two technical fouls, which is unnecessary and unwarranted in our program.”
Ohio used Thompson's ejection and opened up a nineteen point lead and maintained it to hand Eastern the loss.
Looking Forward:
The Eagles will return home to the Convocation Center Saturday for a noon tip-off against the University of Toledo Rockets.
