Eastern Michigan Pulls Away in Second Half to Defeat Men's Basketball, 80-62

Saturday, November 17

Ypsilanti, MI

2:30 PM

Boston University

3-2

Eastern Michigan

4-1

Boston

Eastern Michigan

Max Mahoney attempts a jumper from the baseline against Vermont.

Photo by: Rich Gagnon

Eastern Michigan Pulls Away in Second Half to Defeat Men's Basketball, 80-62

November 17, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score

YPSILANTI, Mich. – Despite shooting over 47 percent from the field, the Boston University men's basketball suffered a 80-62 loss on Saturday afternoon at Eastern Michigan.

The Eagles (4-1) shot 72.0 percent from the field in the second half to remain perfect at home with a 4-0 record, as the Terriers (3-2) suffered their first road loss of the year following wins at Northeastern and Albany.

Junior Max Mahoney led the Terriers with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while sophomore Javante McCoy tallied 17 points with the help of four 3-pointers. EMU's Elijah Minnie hit five treys en route to a career-high 28 points, and James Thompson IV posted a double-double (14 pts., 14 rebs.).

TURNING POINT

After Mahoney hit two free throws to pull BU within four (55-51) at 9:04, the Eagles scored the game's next 16 points.
EMU hit three 3-pointers during the run with Minnie hitting fifth bomb at 5:08 for the 71-51 advantage.

THE SETUP

There were nine lead changes in the first half with BU jumping out to an early 8-5 lead at 17:33 following back-to-back layups from Mahoney and junior Tyler Scanlon.
Sophomore Andrew Petcash hit his first of two 3-pointers to extend the lead to 16-11 at 12:10.
Thompson and Boubacar Toure responded with back-to-back dunks to ignite a 13-2 run capped by Minnie's layup at 5:25.
BU scored the game's next eight points with freshman Jordan Guest converting on a three-point play and Petcash adding a second trey at 2:33 to give the Terriers their final lead of the game.
EMU though had an 8-0 spurt of its own to enter the locker room leading, 32-26, despite shooting 38.2 FG% compared to BU's 45.8FG%.
McCoy start the second half with a 3-pointer and tied the game at 17:28 (36-36), but Paul Jackson hit a jumper to give the Eagles the lead for good.
Jackson struck again with a 3-pointer at 12:13 to extend the lead to 52-43.
BU had an 8-3 spurt to pull within four before EMU rode an offensive surge to victory.

GAME NOTES

Mahoney scored 18 points in a game for the second time this season following his performance against Vermont, while McCoy finished one shy of his season best.
The Eagles entered the contest receiving the third most votes outside the top 25 of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.
EMU improved to 3-1 all-time against the Terriers, winning their first meeting since 1997.
BU was outscored in the paint for the first time this season, 34-28.
The Terriers made their first visit to the state of Michigan since beating the Wolverines in 2004.
BU finished the game 24-of-51 (.471), including 6-of-17 (.353) from behind the arc, and did not help its cause by shooting 8-of-18 (.444) at the charity stripe.
EMU on the flip side went 31-of-59 FG (.525), 7-of-16 3FG (.438) and 11-of-12 FT (.917), respectively.

NEXT UP: DREXEL

The Terriers will continue the six-game road trip at Drexel on Wednesday (Nov. 21) with a 3 p.m. start time.
The Dragons lead the all-time series, 22-10, but the teams haven't met since Drexel left the America East for the CAA following the 2000-01 season.