The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball program’s bid to win four conference games officially ended against the Miami University RedHawks Tuesday night.
The Eagles lost 89-80, falling to 10-10 on the season and 4-4 in conference play. They attempted to win four consecutive games for the first time in conference play since February and March 2018, the last time Eastern Michigan made the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Tournament semifinal.
It was a game that started back and forth, as the first 10 minutes saw Eastern Michigan trailing by just one point, 17-16, in a stretch where the largest lead for either side was four points in favor of Miami.
Eastern Michigan was right in the thick of things for the next five minutes, and they could take the lead, 30-29, with 5:30 to play in the first half as their quest of winning a fourth straight game was in the grasp. From that point, the game was in the control of the RedHawks. They finished the first half on an 18-8 run to take the lead 47-38 heading into the locker room.
Miami started the second half very strong. They scored the first 12 points of the second half to make the score 59-38 before the Eagles could get on the board to start the half. It was not until after the first media timeout that the Eagles got their first points of the half. The following five minutes slightly went toward Eastern Michigan; they trailed 67-55 at the 10-minute mark, still with lots of work to do to mount a comeback.
For the remainder of the game, Eastern Michigan gained momentum a few times, cutting Miami’s lead to eight, forcing the RedHawks to call a timeout.
The situation was that every time Eastern gained momentum, Miami would come right back; they pushed the lead up to 13 the next two minutes after they went out of the timeout they called. Another example of this is EMU cutting it to nine with three minutes to go, and this was the closest Eastern Michigan was able to cut the lead to after the struggling end of the first half and beginning of the second half.
Individually, the Eagles saw a great performance from Christian Henry (Chicago, Illinois/The Skill Factory/Panola College). Henry scored 25 points while making eight shots from the field, three points away from his best in an Eastern Michigan uniform. He also led the team with six assists and two steals.
Two other players were in double-digits for the Eagles, Arne Osojnik (Ljubljana, Slovenia/Dream City Christian) and Jalen Terry (Flint, Michigan/Beecher/Oregon/DePaul), who had 15 and 12 points for the Eagles. Da’Sean Nelson (Toledo, Ohio/Robert S. Rogers/Kilgore College/DePaul) impacted Eastern Michigan on defense, blocking three shots for the Green and White, which is a season-high for him. He also came down with eight rebounds.
As a team, the Eagles led in points in the paint and bench points, leading the first category 34-30 and the latter 30-22. Both have been key factors in many Eagles’ wins this season.
Road to Cleveland
The MAC Tournament path is something to watch for Eastern at this point of the season. Every team in the conference has played eight games so far, and the Eagles have four wins and four losses, which is good enough for a tie for fifth place with the Kent State Golden Flashes. The top eight teams in the Mid-American Conference will earn the right to go to Cleveland to play a single-elimination tournament to determine who will be headed to the NCAA Tournament. The MAC Tournament is set to be played on March 13-15 at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, which is the home of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers. Eastern has yet to play Kent State this season but is slated to play them two times before the end of the regular season, once at home next Tuesday, February 4, and once to conclude the regular season in Kent, March 7.
There is still a long way to go in the regular season, but Eastern Michigan is well on its way to heading to Cleveland for the first time since 2018, where they beat Akron 67-58 and lost to Toledo 64-63 in the semifinal. Their last appearance in the MAC Tournament was in 2020, where they lost to Kent State 86-76 on March 9, 2020, in Kent, just days before the COVID-19 Pandemic canceled the rest of the tournament. Before 2021, the MAC used to have first-round games on campus sites, but in the last four years, just the top eight teams in the standings go to Cleveland. There are 10 more games left in the regular season for Eastern Michigan as of January 29.
Up Next, The Eagles will conclude the two-game road trip when they head to Kalamazoo to take on the Western Michigan Broncos. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m., and the game will be streaming on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to WEMU 89.1 FM for radio coverage of the game.
For more information on the Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team, you can visit the Echo’s website.