Eastern Michigan Loses Thriller In MAC Semifinals

CLEVELAND (97.1 The Ticket) - The Eastern Michigan men's basketball team was seconds away from advancing to its first MAC Tournament championship game in 20 years when Toledo's Marreon Jackson hit a three-pointer with nine seconds left.

The third-seeded Eagles (21-12) had a chance to counter, but Kevin McAdoo missed a layup as time expired, ending their hopes of advancing to the NCAA Tournament with a 64-63 loss.

Jackson's game-winning three came less than a minute after he hit one to tie the game at 61-61. The freshman finished with a career-high 26 points. Paul Jackson also had a team-high 26 for the Eagles, while Elijah Minnie had 13.

Eastern Michigan had taken the lead on the previous possession via Paul Johnson's layup with 21 seconds to play.

No. 2-seed Toledo (23-10) outscored the Eagles 15-9 over the last seven minutes of the game. The Rockets advance to take on top-seeded Buffalo in the MAC Championship game on Saturday.

The Eagles last played in MAC Championship in 1998 when Earl Boykins led the team to the NCAA Tournament. EMU could be awaiting a possible bid to the CIT or CBI tournaments.