Throughout the first half, EMU looked sluggish. I suppose that's what you'd expect from a team playing a Monday night game in a mostly empty building against an opponent they had beaten twice before. They weren't crisp on offense, often making just a few slow passes and cuts before shooting a contested three pointer early in the shot clock. Compounding matters, some sloppy transition defense was leading to easy points for NIU. Still, the Huskies looked equally inept against EMU's 2-3 zone in the half court game, so neither team did much to light up the scoreboard.

The halftime break couldn't come soon enough for Coach Murphy and his team. By the time it arrived, they trailed 18-11, and big offensive improvement was needed in the second half to avoid the upset and advance to Cleveland.

The story of the second half would be the superhoop. On their first possession Eastern's Derek Thompson hit a three pointer, their first of the night after going 0-9 from distance in the first half. They would make three of four triples to start the second half, and with those shots falling the scoreline began to tighten.

Sensing their chances improving, the Eagles also began playing tighter perimeter defense, culminating in guard Darrell Lampley forcing NIU's Stian Berg to pick up his dribble near half court and use a timeout. Berg's frustration boiled over for a moment, and after the whistle he gave Lampley a push in the chest. Following a brief discussion amongst themselves, the referees assessed technical fouls on both players (the reason for Lampley's was unclear... maybe something he said?).  The student section came alive, the momentum had shifted, and it was no surprise when EMU took their first lead of the game shortly thereafter at 31-29 with just under 12 minutes to play.

It would be the only lead of the night for the Eagles, however. NIU responded by scoring the next eight straight points, including superhoops by Berg and Antone Christian. Over an eight minute period beginning with 10:15 to play, the Huskies made five baskets - all of them three pointers. It was just enough to keep Eastern at bay. On their final possession, a desperation 30-foot buzzer beater by center Jamell Harris hit rim, backboard, rim again, and then fell to the floor, condemning the Eagles to a 55-52 loss and giving the Huskies another chance to suit up this season.

NIU attempted 21 three pointers for the game, over half of their 39 field goal attempts, and made nine of them for a 43% success rate. Critically, they made six of their last eight to close out the win. For the season they shot just 32% from deep (ranking them 272nd in the country), leaving Eagles fans to wonder why they were so unlucky to see their season end due to good shooting by a bad shooting team.

Still, you got the impression filing out of the Convocation Center that folks weren't too broken up about the night's result. Laughter and smiles filled the concourse. The season had turned out better than they expected, and the future is bright under Coach Murphy. This year's spin on the rollercoaster has come to a stop in Ypsilanti - and it ended as they always do, with a loss - but wasn't it worth the cost of the ticket to ride?

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