Eagles Rally in 2nd Half to Beat Purdue

      Eastern Michigan came into the game with a 5-2 record, and a recent loss to Syracuse. The Eagles knew they had a good chance at beating the 4-4 Boilermakers at home. Neither team really had a standout first half. The score was 20-19 at halftime, after a late basket pulled EMU within 1 going into half. The Eagle were able to hold on and with 47-44.

     The Eagles got off to a slow start at the free throw line, and had some trouble getting rebounds. But were still able to stay in the game, and force Purdue to make some bad shots. What really helped Eastern were points off the bench. The Eagles played really deep into the bench today with everyone that got into the game scored.

       Eastern came into that second half looking very sharp right from the start. Thompson hit a big 3 pointer to take the lead. From there, EMU played like a brand new team. Playing very solid defense, forcing fouls, and taking better shots, and having more confidence in those shots.

      Late in the game The Eagles were up by 4. Ronnie Johnson of Purdue then gets a big layup to pull within 2. Riley is then fouled after coming up with a rebound. He goes to the line and made his first free throw to put EMU up by 3. Purdue wasn't able to score there time down the floor and Eastern clenched the huge win.

     The Eagles put this game at the top of their resume, after beating a Big Ten team is always a huge accomplishment. Thompson had 8 points, and had at least 1 stat in every category other then rebounding.

     EMU's big men were the biggest impact, by getting a lot of tough rebounds. Harrison had 11 rebounds, and 4 points. That was key in this game was to outrebound Purdue, and force turnovers. The Eagles did just that in the 2nd half. Purdue had 18 total turnovers in this game, while Eastern only had 4 the entire game.

    Eastern Michigan will play Illinois-Chicago next, and then play the #3 Michigan Wolverines.




GO EAGLES!