Eastern Michigan men's basketball team tops Buffalo, women's team loses to Bowling Green
Eastern Michigan held the Mid-American Conference’s top-shooting team without a basket for a key four-minute stretch and pulled away to beat Buffalo 78-65 Saturday at the Convocation Center.
Eastern (7-17, 4-7 MAC West) outscored the Bulls 8-1 over that stretch, stretching a 57-53 lead to 65-54 with 3:11 left in the game.
Brandon Bowdry led the Eagles with 20 points and six rebounds. Darrell Lampley added 15 points, Derrick Thompson scored 13 and Jamell Harris contributed 11 points and five blocked shots.
Javon McCrea scored 17 points for Buffalo, which entered the game with the nation’s seventh-best shooting percentage (49.0%). The Bulls (15-8, 7-4 MAC East) made 25 of 58 shots (43.1 percent) against Eastern, which was allowing a MAC-low 39.9 percent shooting percentage by its opponents.
Eastern Michigan extended a 35-34 halftime lead to eight points early in the second half before Buffalo closed the gap prior to the Eagles’ final run.
Free throw shooting was a big discrepancy in the game as the Bulls were whistled for 27 fouls compared to just 14 for the Eagles. Eastern made 24 of 35 free throws while Buffalo made nine of its 12 attempts.
Eastern honored its 1990-91 Sweet 16 during the game. Players and coaches from the team were honored during a halftime presentation.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Bowling Green’s Lauren Prochaska, a two-time Mid-American Conference Player of the Year, had another MVP-type performance Saturday at Eastern Michigan’s Convocation Center.
The senior guard scored 37 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in 40 minutes of play as the Falcons beat Eastern Michigan 60-55.
Eastern (16-9, 7-4 MAC West) battled the MAC East Division leaders all night, trading leads with the Falcons 11 times in the second half. But a Prochaska 3-pointer with 1:42 remaining gave Bowling Green (20-4, 8-3) a 55-52 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Sydney Huntley led the Eagles with 20 points. Tavelyn James added 15 and Paige Redditt 11 for Eastern, which led by as many as nine points on several occasions, the last with 16:41 left in the second half.