Eastern Michigan takes down YSU men

Staff report

YPSILANTI, MICH.

There were eight lead changes and 10 ties between in a non-conference men’s basketball game between Youngstown State and Eastern Michigan on Friday night.

But the Eagles kept the lead when it mattered and beat the Penguins, 71-62, at the Convocation Center.

Bobby Hain led the Penguins with 15 points and sophomores Jalon Plummer (13), Marcus Keene (12) and Shawn Amiker (10) also reached double figures, but YSU (1-3) lost the lead midway through the second half and couldn’t catch Eastern Michigan (3-0) again.

Karrington Love led the Eagles with 19 points and Anali Okoloji and Raven Lee each had 16.

The Penguins more field goals than the Eagles (23-20) and each team made eight 3-pointers. Eastern Michigan went-23-of-30 from the free-throw line while the Penguins made just 8-of-12 from the charity stripe.

With the game tied a 33-33 at halftime, the Eagles jumped out the a 45-40 lead just three minutes into the second half sparked by five points each from Ward and Okoloji.

The Penguins scored the next seven points on a 3-pointer by Plummer, a putback dunk by Sidney Umude and another layup by Umude to take a 47-45 lead with 14:45 to go.

Following a 3-pointer by Keene that gave the Penguins a 50-48 edge, the Eagles scored five straight to regain a three-point lead, 53-50, midway through the second half.

Hain hit a jumper to get the Penguins within one, 53-52, but the Eagles extended the lead to six, 60-54, with 5:59 to go after a jumper by Ward.

The Penguins answered with a 3-pointer by Hain at the 5:30 mark to cut the deficit back to three, 60-57, and trailed by three, 62-59, after another jumper by Hain with 3:05 left.

Eastern Michigan turned the ball over on consecutive possession, but the Penguins missed a pair of game-tying 3-point attempts.

Okoloji buried a 3-pointer with 1:17 left and after two free throws by Lee and another by Ward, the Eagles pushed their lead up to nine points, 68-59.

Amiker made a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left, but Eastern Michigan made three more free throws downs the stretch.

In first half, the Penguins fell by eight points, 16-8 in the first five minutes of the game, and trailed by seven, 20-13, midway through the half.

The Penguins, though, went on a 10-0 run over the next three minutes to take a 23-20 lead. A 3-pointer by Shaun Stewart followed by a jumper and layup by Plummer knotted the game at 20-20 with 9:26 to go.

The Penguins take on Longwood at 4:30 p.m. today at the Convocation Center.

The game can be heard on WNIO-AM 1390.