East Michigan News

Senior Da'Sean Nelson played a pivotal role in Eastern Michigan University's victory over Old Dominion with a 22-point performance, leading the Eagles to a 76-70 win on Saturday, February 8th. The game was held at the George Gervin GameAbove Center and marked the second leg of the Mid-American Conference-Sun Belt Conference Challenge.

The Eagles maintained control for more than 33 minutes in a closely contested match that saw nine lead changes. John Shanu II, competing against his former team, secured the tip-off for Eastern Michigan. Yusuf Jihad scored the team's first basket, setting the tone for the game.

Arne Osojnik's three-pointer helped extend Eastern Michigan's lead to 15-7, marking their largest advantage in the first half. Although Old Dominion closed the gap to 25-23, Eastern responded with four points before Old Dominion managed a three-pointer at halftime's buzzer, bringing them within three points at 29-26.

In the second half, both teams exchanged scores until Eastern Michigan went on a 12-2 run to secure a 59-51 lead with just over seven minutes remaining. Despite Old Dominion narrowing the deficit to four points later in the game, Eastern solidified their lead by scoring seven free throws in the final minute.

This win improved Eastern Michigan's record to 11-12 overall while Old Dominion fell to 11-14. The Eagles were efficient from the floor with a shooting percentage of 50%, compared to Old Dominion's 42.3%. Notably, Nelson achieved his seventh game this season scoring at least 20 points and now has accumulated 973 career points as a Division I player.

Other key performances included Jalin Billingsley's perfect shooting from the field and Jalen Terry contributing crucial three-pointers late in the game. Christian Henry ended his streak of games with made three-pointers but still managed double-digit scoring for his eleventh consecutive game.

Eastern Michigan will next face Ball State on Tuesday, February 11th, in an important MAC matchup.