YPSILANTI, Mich. – The Goshen men's basketball team had an opportunity to play at a Division-I school on Friday night. The Maple Leafs lost the exhibition game to Eastern Michigan by a score of 94-66, but it was the experience the players got that is the most valuable result of the match.
This was the third time in four years that the Leafs have played an exhibition game against the Eagles. The match took place in the Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, which seats 8,800. Goshen head coach
Jon Tropf was the manager for the men's basketball team when he was a student at Eastern Michigan from 2008-12.
"This was a great experience for our program," Tropf said. "Any time you can play against Division-I teams, it creates a fun and unique environment."
Goshen's offense scored 33 points in both halves. However, the defense stepped up tremendously in the second half. The Eagles were able to put up 56 points in the first half, but the Maple Leafs held them to just 38 in the second. Goshen was only outscored by five points in that half. The Leafs were more efficient from behind the arc – making 36% of threes compared to 34% for EMU. The difference was particularly noticeable in the second half – when it was 46% for the Leafs and 25% for the Eagles.
Michael Johnson scored 15 points by shooting 7-11. He had four assists and no turnovers during his 22 minutes on the court.
Greg Johnson added 14 points and shot 50%.
Elias Ramirez and
Ryan Mansbarger each had ten.
Niles Arrington just played 14 minutes but put up seven points and nine rebounds.
"While we played well in spurts, we had a couple of stretches where we forced the issue and they took advantage," mentioned Tropf. "I'm still proud of our energy and effort through the game."
This was Eastern Michigan's last exhibition match before starting their regular season. They will play at Indiana in Assembly Hall on Tuesday, November 9
th. The game is at 6:30 on the Big Ten Network. Goshen stays in Michigan to face Concordia University on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 in Ann Arbor.
