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Eastern Michigan Basketball: Eagles win a close matchup over Niagara

By Ryan Kay

Mar 12, 2020; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Empty seats at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse before the game between the Akron Zips and the Ohio Bobcats. The game and the Mid-American Conference basketball tournament was cancelled in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2020; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Empty seats at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse before the game between the Akron Zips and the Ohio Bobcats. The game and the Mid-American Conference basketball tournament was cancelled in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Eastern Michigan hosted Niagara from the MAAC in a showdown of two mid-major programs looking to take the next step this season before the heart of conference play begins for both schools.

Eastern Michigan entered this game with a 3-5 record with wins over Illinois State, Western Illinois, and division two Northwood. The Eagles also did win at Oakland but it was an exhibition game back in October. Senior guard Monty Scott who prior to the game against Niagara was averaging 16 points and 2.9 assists per game leads the Eagles offense.

Freshmen transfer Noah Farrakhan is Eastern’s leading scorer entering their game with the Purple Eagles averaging 17.3 ppg and his teammate senior Nate Scott is the Eagles leading rebounder. Eastern Michigan also is led by junior guard Bryce McBride and freshman forward Colin Golson Jr.

Niagara entered this game 3-5 as well but with an 0-2 conference record. The Purple Eagles played well to begin the season only losing at Xavier by three points and falling on the road to Ohio State by ten points. Niagara has a nice win over Colgate who defeated Syracuse on the road by 15.  The Purple Eagles are led by senior guard Marcus Hammond who entering the game averaging 17.8 points a game.

The first five minutes of the game saw limited points on the scoreboard as Niagara jumped out to an early 8-3 lead. Hammond had seven quick points for the Purple Eagles giving them an early 13-7 lead over Eastern Michigan. The Eagles began turning up their defensive intensity to cut Niagara’s lead to only two points with just under eight minutes remaining in the first half. Eastern Michigan tied up the game at 18 with six minutes left before the second half.

With 4:30 left in the first half on a Golson Jr. layup, Eastern took the lead 21-20. After Niagara regained the lead, big man Scott put down a thunderous dunk to cut the Purple Eagles lead to one with 2:30 left in the half, and shortly after, Golson made a layup to give Eastern the lead 25-24. Farrakhan made a three-pointer from the top of the key to give the Eagles a 28-27 lead and McBride made two free throws to give Eastern Michigan a 30-27 lead at halftime.

Eastern Michigan came out of the half looking to extend their lead and the Eagles within two minutes of play in the second half had a 35-27 lead. Then the Eagles had their biggest lead of the game when they took a 39-29 lead over the Purple Eagles off of a strong offensive burst.

With just over 12 minutes remaining in the game, Monty Scott made a three-point attempt to give Eastern Michigan a 46-34 lead. Scott would then make a contested shot to make it a 48-34 Eagles lead with approximately 11 minutes left in the second half. The Purple Eagles cut the lead to five with just over eight minutes remaining in the game after Hammond made two of his free throw attempts.

McBride made two consecutive layups with just under five minutes remaining to increase Eastern Michigan’s lead and not much after made two key free throws to give the Eagles a 58-50 lead. Niagara’s Sam Iorio made a jumper to cut Eastern’s lead to only three points with 2:30 remaining in the second half and then Julian Mackey made a mid-range shot to cut the Eagles’ lead to only one point with just over a minute and a half remaining.

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Niagara had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but missed a three-pointer giving Eastern Michigan a 60-58 victory. The MAC program remains undefeated at home 4-0 and 4-5 on the season. McBride lead all scorers with 19 and Monty Scott and Golson had 11 points each to help lead the Eagles with the victory.