With baskets hard to come by, a simple five-point swing by the Eastern Michigan basketball team sparked the Eagles’ 41-38 win over Toledo at the Convocation Center on Saturday.

A Quintin Dailey 3-pointer snapped a 36-36 tie with 3:05 left to play. Jamell Harris then followed his own blocked shot with a dunk that put Eastern Michigan ahead 41-36 with 2:21 remaining.

Toledo missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 9 seconds left, extending EMU’s win streak against the Rockets to six games.

The win moved EMU into sole possession of first place in the Mid-American Conference West Division standings, at least for a few hours. Co-leader Ball State plays at Northern Illinois late Saturday night.

Eastern Michigan (9-10, 4-1) led the low-scoring affair 15-14 at halftime. Toledo made 5 of 23 (21.7) shots and was 0-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half. The Eagles were 5-of-20 (25.0) and 2-of-8 from long distance.

EMU finished 15-of-46 (32.6) from the floor and the Rockets (9-10, 1-4 MAC West) made 15-of-50 (30.0) shots. The Eagles outrebounded Toledo 40-18.

Darrell Lampley led the Eagles with nine points on 3-of-13 shooting. Rian Pearson scored 12 points and Curtis Dennis added 10 for Toledo.

Huron High School graduate A.J. Mathew, a freshman at Toledo, was held scoreless in eight minutes of playing time.

Toledo’s 38-point output boosted Eastern Michigan’s conference-best scoring defense (51.8 points) and field goal percentage defense (36.4). The Rockets football team, by comparison, outscored EMU 54-16 on Oct. 8.