Player of the Week: Lyons Leads Team Past Rivals

If you were not in attendance to see the clinic Jered Lyons put on against archrival Bridgewater College on Saturday night, I will go ahead and apologize for you.

The humble but pure shooter, was instrumental in aiding the Royals to a very important conference win by making six of eight three pointers en route to a 20 point performance. When asked about his performance over the weekend, he once again turned the focus to the team's success and high level of play. "One of the biggest things I am happy about is that we worked as a team and that's how you win. The shots I took where shots within the offense and I think those are the best shots. I didn't try to be a hero I just shot the best shot available. It felt good to finally get going and knock down some shots to help the team win."

Lyons created stress for the entire Eagles team as he knocked down three pointers from NBA range as the shot clock expired on numerous occasions. Even though Lyons was shooting a very high percentage throughout the game, he played unselfishly and displayed his court vision by dishing out several key assists in the latter portion of the contest.

Lyons increased his level of play at a crucial point and game of the season for the Royals. The win over the Eagles puts EMU in a three-way tie for 8th place in the conference with Lynchburg and Bridgewater. The Takoma Park, Md. native commented, "I just wanted to do well for the team and the school." Only the top eight teams from the ODAC qualify for the conference tournament in two weeks. Lyons, a Communications major, also expressed excitement for his senior All-Conference teammate, Jason Sager. "I am happy for Sager. Years past, we came close to beating BC. I am glad we were able to get the win for his last time suiting up at home against our rivals."

Head Coach Kirby Dean described Jered Lyon's performance as "en fuego," but had much more to say about the great person he is on and off the court. "Jered is a great kid who has represented the university and basketball program in a positive manner so I'm really pleased to see him have much deserved success. He represents everything we want our basketball program to be about here at EMU. The biggest thing is that Jered is a man of integrity. Jered does the right thing even when he could do the wrong thing and no one would ever know. With Jered, what you see is what you get, and what you get in this instance is pretty special."