DePaul University Athletics
Brumfield Put-Back Sends DePaul Past Eastern Illinois
11/23/2004 12:00:00 AM | MEN'S BASKETBALL
ROSEMONT, Ill. - Marlon Brumfield's rebound and basket with 1.9 seconds left in the contest gave DePaul a 53-51 win over Eastern Illinois on Tuesday at the Allstate Arena.
DePaul improved to 2-0 while the Panthers dropped their season opener.
"It's a win and we'll take it but we have a lot of work to do"Â DePaul head coach Dave Leitao said. "We need to continue to get in the gym and improve from day-to-day."
Eastern Illinois's Emauel Dildy tied the game with 33 seconds remaining on a short jumper. After a timeout the Blue Demons held the ball for the last shot. Sammy Mejia drove the left wing of the lane and missed a short jumper, Brumfield then grabbed the miss, double pumped and scored with just under two seconds to play.
The Panthers called timeout and Dildy's three-pointer at the buzzer rimmed out as DePaul improved to 2-0 for the third consecutive year under head coach Dave Leitao.
Mejia was the only Blue Demon in double figures scoring a game-high 19 points. Eastern Illinois got 13 points, 11 in the first half, from Josh Gomes while Andy Gobczynski added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
DePaul had a chance to put the game away when they used a 12-2 run to take a 10-point lead (51-41) with 2:56 to play by Gobczynski hit consecutive three-point field goals and Dildy scored four points, including his game-tying jumper with 0:33 left that knotted the contest before Brumfield's heroics.
Eastern Illinois led for almost the entire half and pushed the bulge to as much as six at 26-20 before the Blue Demons used an 11-3 run to take a two-point lead however the teams went into intermission tied at 31.
DePaul will entertain Northern Illinois on Saturday at the Allstate Arena. Game time is 1 p.m. and the contest will be televised by Comcast SportsNet. Eastern Illinois will host Evansville on Saturday in Charleston.
Notes: Drake Diener moved into a tie for fifth place with Peter Patton (1992-96) on DePaul's all-time three-point field goal list... Diener now has 134 career three-pointers... DePaul has won all seven meetings with Eastern Illinois... the Blue Demons have now won 15 of their last 17 regular season games dating back to last season.