DePAUL 101, EASTERN MICHIGAN 63
BOWLING GREEN 75, CHICAGO STATE 57
FORT MYERS, Fla. – Western Michigan junior guard Lamar Norman Jr. netted a career-high 31 points to lift the Broncos to an 81-77 overtime victory over Southeastern Louisiana on Sunday afternoon in the final game of the FGCU Invitational.
The Broncos (3-4) broke a 62-62 tie by scoring six in a row with just under four minutes to play in the second half. Southeastern Louisiana (3-5) answered with the next five, trimming the margin to 68-67. Norman connected on a jumper in the final 30 seconds, but the Lions came down and tied it with a three-pointer to send the game into overtime.
Western Michigan scored seven of the first nine points of overtime to take a 77-72 advantage at the midway point of the extra session. In the final minute, the Lions got back within two, 77-75, but the Broncos were able to seal the game at the free throw line to win in overtime for the second straight day. It marked the first time WMU has won back-to-back games in overtime since beating Ball State and Toledo in overtime in January of 2015.
With his 31 points on Sunday, Norman became the first Bronco to net 30 in a single game since Michael Flowers poured in 35 at Toledo on March 9, 2020. For the afternoon, Norman made 11-of-20 from the floor and knocked down six three-pointers.
Markeese Hastings collected his first collegiate double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds. Mack Smith added 14 points, all of which came after halftime. Titus Wright snared a season-high nine rebounds and added a career-best three blocks.
Southeastern Louisiana led for the majority of the first half, and took a 37-33 advantage to the locker room at intermission..
Smith scored WMU's first 10 points of the second half to bring the game level at 43-43. SLU responded with five in a row to briefly regain the lead, but the Broncos used a 10-0 surge to take a 53-48 edge at the 11:18 mark.
Western Michigan shot better than 50.0 percent for the second straight day, hitting 28-of-54 (51.9 percent) from the field and 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) from downtown. The Broncos knocked down 14-of-18 (77.8 percent) at the charity stripe. Southeastern Louisiana made 37.9 percent from the floor (25-for-66) and 36.4 percent (12-for-33) from beyond the arc.
WMU held a 22-16 advantage in bench points, and outscored SLU 34-24 in the paint for the contest.
Western Michigan returns to Kalamazoo next Sunday, Dec. 5, for a non-conference tilt against Valparaiso at University Arena. Tip is set for 2 pm.
CHICAGO, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) -- Eastern Michigan lost, to DePaul University 101-63 Sunday in the final contest of the Blue Demon Classic.
Eastern (2-4; 0-0 MAC) was led by senior Monty Scott with 18 points, followed by a trio of Eagles that each scored seven. It was the first contest of the season for the Green and White where two players did not hit double-digit scoring. EMU shot 33.3 percent (22-66) from the field and 80 percent (12-15) from the free throw line in the contest.
On the defensive end, the Eagles allowed DePaul to hit 101, the first time this season an opponent has scored 100+ on the squad. Eastern Michigan was out rebounded 44-32 in the contest by DePaul, and forced the Blue Demons into 11 turnovers, while committing 17 of their own. Senior Axel Okongo was the only player in Green and White to block a shot in the game, while the Blue Demons swatted nine.
How It Happened
Eastern Michigan started the game strong, hitting its first 3-of-4 shots, including a three from freshman Mo Njie, the first of his career, to jump out to an early five point lead. From there, the battle ensued, with four lead changes in the half, and six ties. After the back-and-forth action, DePaul went on a 31-7 run over the final 7:34 of the first half. The Eagles entered the locker room down 53-29. Eastern shot 33.3 percent from the field (9-27) and from beyond the three-point line (4-12), and were led by M. Scott who scored eight in the half.
Early in the seconds half, EMU found itself down 69-31 with 15:44 left to play as Eastern proceeded to shoot 27.3 percent in the half. DePaul's largest lead of the contest was 43 (97-54) with 2:55 left in the game, the largest deficit for the team this season. The Green and White were unable to hold off DePaul's surge beginning in the first half, ultimately falling 101-63. The team saw a 30-point performance from its bench in the loss.
Game Notes
» The Eastern Michigan bench contributed 30 points.
» Eastern Michigan cleaned up on the offensive glass, collecting 12 offensive boards in the game, two more than DePaul's 10.
» Monty Scott led the Eagles with 18 points, and hit multiple threes (three) for the third consecutive game.
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Bowling Green Falcons tallied their 100th win in the Stroh Center on Sunday afternoon with a 75-57 victory. BGSU was paced on the scoreboard by Joe Reece with a season-high 18 points. Daeqwon Plowden followed closely with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season, while breaking the program record for career games played in the Orange and Brown. The win moves BGSU to 3-4 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• The Falcons jumped out to an early 9-1 run, including a 6-0 jolt, to create a 12-3 lead early in the contest.
• Bowling Green was able to hold that momentum through the first half, including a 7-0 run in the midst of building a 13-point advantage at the half, 28-15.
• Early in the second half the Falcons created a 13-0 run. Trey Diggs drew a flagrant foul and converted both free throws. On the following possession, Joe Reece drew a foul on a made layup, making the free throw for the three-point play. Reece hit a jump shot the next time down before Diggs made another pair of free throws after a bench technical foul against Chicago State. Plowden and Reece each made two more free throws to bring the run to 13-0 with nine of the 13 points coming from the free throw line.
• The Cougars answered with an 11-0 run of their own to cut the lead down to 53-38 Falcons, but it was too little too late as Bowling Green once again found their footing to stay in front.
• From that point on it would be a back-and-forth affair with neither team exceeding a run of more than five points, resulting in a 75-57 win for the Falcons, marking the program's 100th in the Stroh Center.