The Eagles held the lead for the majority of . . .
The Eagles led the Retrievers in the first half for 18 minutes after back-to-back threes from redshirt junior Ty Groce and freshman Chris James. The pair led Eastern in the first half with eight points apiece, while Groce reached his career-high in rebounds in the first half, with 10. They were followed by four points from junior Yeikson Montero.
EMU forced turnovers and capitalized off them, snagging nine steals in the first frame. Eastern outshot the Retrievers from the field in the first, 35 percent to 34.8.
Montero hit back-to-back threes to start the second half, pushing the lead to 10. Redshirt senior Boubacar Toure was limited in the first half after picking up two early fouls, but quickly made an impact in the second half, putting up four points, grabbing five rebounds and swiping two steals, while finishing +11 in the contest.
Junior Noah Morgan led the Eagles in scoring in the second half with eight points, and finished the game with a team leading 11 points. Junior Chris Barnes also contributed seven points of his own in the half, including two free throws, keeping him perfect on the season. As a team, the Eagles shot 50 percent from the field, 41.7 percent from downtown, and 83.3 from the charity stripe.
Eastern Michigan continued to hound the Retrievers throughout the game, forcing them into 26 turnovers to EMU's 17. The Eagles also out-rebounded UMBC 29-25. Groce led the team with 11, setting a new career-high for the Ypsilanti, Mich. native, as well as a career-high of five steals, which also led the team. Junior Darion Spottsville tied his career-high with four points.