by Cleveland, OH; The third matchup of the MAC Quarterfinals would come between the 2nd seeded Miami Redhawks and 7th seeded Eastern Michigan Eagles. The Redhawks came into the matchup with an overall record of 23-8, with the Eagles at 16-15 on the regular season. The two teams met twice, each taking a win themselves.\
Miami was led by reshirt-sophomore guard Kam Craft who tallied up 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists. Sophomore guard Evan Ipsaro followed up with 14 points and 3 assists.
The 81-75 win for Miami was very hard fought, but they would be able to get it done thanks to a big second half.
While Eastern Michigan was led by senior guard Jalen Terry who had 21 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and went 5-for-13 from three. Junior guard Christian Henry had 24 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal.
The game started off all in Miami’s favor with an early 9-0 run. It was big part thanks to Eastern Michigan starting off 0-for-5 from the field.
By the first media timeout rolled around, the Redhawks maintained a 9-3 lead.
It was very clear early on that Miami was the better rebounding team. With the Redhawks owning that category, 18-5 in just the first 9 minutes of game-time. They would own it 45-32 throughout the entire game.
After trailing 14-8, back-to-back threes from Eastern Michigan would put them right back into it, tying the game all up at 14 a piece. The bright side for the Eagles is that they started off 4-for-7 from deep.
By time the second media timeout rolled around, Miami had just a 16-14 lead with 10:35 left in the half.
Outside of Eastern Michigan shooting the three ball well, both defenses were very locked in for the most part. As both teams were shooting under 34% throughout the first half.
Eastern Michigan would go on to take a 27-24 lead thanks to a 13-8 run which was led by the guard sensation who missed half of the season. When Terry is available, the Eagles are a much different team than their record shows.
Both defenses continued to show out, especially to end the half. As Miami went on a very small 5-2 run and have the game all tied up at 29 a piece.
The second half started off with Eastern Michigan scorching hot, shooting 61%. Unfortunately giving up all these rebounds to Miami would only allow them to do so much, as the Redhawks loaded up on second chance points.
But despite all of that, we still had a tie game at 47 a piece by time the under-12 media timeout rolled around for the second half.
A three by Henry would give Eastern Michigan their largest lead of the game at 54-51 with just over 9 minutes left.
But Miami would go on a 6-3 run getting this game tied up once again, 57-57. At the under-8 media timeout, it was pretty much anyone’s game.
It would finally be the Redhawks’ time to catch fire. They would proceed to go on a 12-4 run in a matter of less than three minutes. The run gave Miami a 69-61 lean and started to look like that they may be able to run away with the rest of the game.
It continued to be true going into the final media timeout of the game where the Redhawks maintained a 74-61 lead, in what would be their biggest of the game up until this point.
It was a tale of two halves for Miami as they shot 54% in the second half compared to just 33% in the first half. Getting better from beyond the three point line was also a big help of course.
Despite trailing by 13 with under 4 minutes left, you have to give kudos to Eastern Michigan who refused to back down. They would get their deficit down to as less as 6, but nothing closer down the stretch.
In all, Miami outscored Eastern Michigan in the second half, 52-46. Helping them get the 81-75 victory.
With the win, Miami advances ahead to Friday night at 7:30 PM where they will take on the winner of Kent State and Western Michigan.
