CBB: The importance of Senior Day
Boubacar Toure is a senior center for the Eastern Michigan Eagles. On Senior Day, Toure started slow but finished strong as his team came back from a 14-point deficit to win 67-63 over rival Central Michigan. Toure finished with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and a career-high five blocks in the victory over the Chippewas. Yeikson Montero added a team-high 17 points, while Ty Groce finished with 14 points and six rebounds for the Eagles.
“It was a very hard game to play. When I watched the video, I got tears in my eyes. It was tough for me. The first half, it was very hard to get over those emotions," Toure said. "It was a challenge to turn it into a positive way to help my teammates. But in the second half, Yeikson got it going and we were able to get up from there. I was just being aggressive. I was trying to match the energy that coach said.”
Rob Murphy, Eastern Michigan's head coach, discussed Toure following the game: "What I’ll miss most is Boubacar is a high character student athlete. He came here with an undergraduate and is leaving with a master’s. He just makes great choices in life. He’s a guy that you wish you could coach every year. He’s one of the guys that I will miss most in my 24 years. He is a great teammate. I can’t say enough about him."
The Eagles, who improved to 16-13 with the win, will finish the regular season with games against Western Michigan and Toledo on the road. Toure will look to finish his career with a pair of victories before beginning the MAC Tournament on Monday, March 9 with a chance to head to Cleveland. It's not always easy to experience something as important as Senior Day and continue playing but Toure and the Eagles will look to do so following an emotional win.
"Even when we were down today, about six minutes to go we were down nine, he was saying there’s still time left. He was being positive even when I was going hard. He was keeping the other guys settled down," Murphy said. "As sad as this is, we still want to continue to play well to send him out the right way. Any time you have seniors, you want them to leave your program the right way. He’s done everything right so he deserves as much success as he gets."
Photo Credit: The Eastern Echo.
