The Eastern Michigan men’s basketball team’s road to the Mid-American Conference tournament became more difficult.
Despite erasing an 18-point deficit early in the second half and shooting 62.1% from the field in the final frame, the Eagles ultimately fell short to the Bowling Green Falcons at home, 65-60.
Eastern Michigan's game was a tale of two halves, the first half a prime example of Murphy’s Law in action—anything that could go wrong did go wrong for the squad.
The red-hot senior Jalen Terry scored 0 points in the first half, shooting 0/8 from the field and 0/5 from the three-point range. His dynamic running mate, Da’Sean Nelson, only had four points, going 2/10 from the floor.
Eastern Michigan shot a whopping 6.3% (1/16) from beyond the arc during the opening 20 minutes, leading to a 16-point halftime deficit.
“Just disappointing—combine those two together, missed shots and not playing defense, you’re down by 16,” Eagles head coach Stan Heath said about the rough first half.
It didn’t take long for Eastern Michigan to close the gap though, as a 17-1 run to open the second half allowed the Eagles to tie the game, but that would be as close as the team would come to tasting victory.
Bowling Green responded to the run by going on a 7-0 spurt of their own, extending their lead back out to eight late in the second half and doing enough to fend off the home team’s late charge. The win for the Falcons moved them to 12-16 (6-9 MAC) on the season, while the loss dropped the Eagles back to .500, 14-14 (7-8 MAC), crucially in a three-way tie for sixth in the conference.
Terry again led the team in scoring with 14 points but only shooting 6/17 (35.3%) from the field. Jalin Billingsley added 13 points, making 100% of his shots (6/6) plus adding eight rebounds, while Christian Henry was the only other Eagle to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points of his own.
Eastern Michigan will play its first nationally televised home game since 2018 on Feb. 28 against Central Michigan. The game will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network, and the tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
