No. 21 UMass downs Eastern Michigan
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ypsilanti, MI (SportsNetwork.com) - Raphiael Putney had 15 points to lead five Massachusetts scorers in double figures and the No. 21 Minutemen beat Eastern Michigan 69-57 on Tuesday in their first game as a ranked team in 15 years.
Trey Davis added 13 points and Chaz Williams and Cady Lalanne scored 12 apiece for UMass (7-0), which is off to its best start since going 7-0 in 2010-11.
Derrick Gordon chipped in 10 points for the Minutemen, who had been idle since beating Clemson on Nov. 24 to win the Charleston Classic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}They were ranked No. 24 last week -- their first appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 since the week of Nov. 17-23, 1998. They climbed three spots to No. 21 this week.
Tuesday marked UMass' first true road game this season and its ninth straight non-conference road win, though it had to pull away late in a close game to beat the Eagles.
Karrington Ward and Daylen Harrison both scored 11 points and Da'Shonte Riley had 10 to lead the Eagles (5-2), who were coming off their first loss of the season last Wednesday to No. 3 Kentucky after going 5-0 for the first time in 17 years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}EMU led by as many as seven points twice late in the first half and went to the break ahead 35-31 after shooting 57.7 percent.
After Harrison scored to make it a six-point lead, the Minutemen scored 18 of the next 25 points and took a 49-44 lead on Lalanne's dunk with around 9 1/2 minutes left.
UMass never trailed after that, though the game stayed close until an 8-0 run by the Minutemen stretched a five-point lead to 13 with 1:27 remaining.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Game Notes
UMass plays BYU Saturday in the Hall of Fame Holiday Classic in Springfield, Mass. ... Eastern Michigan plays at Purdue on Saturday ... It was the third all-time meeting between the teams. UMass is 2-0 with wins in 1972 and this past Jan. 5 in Amherst.