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Eastern Michigan, Houston, IUPUI wins kick off 2012-13 season

Rob Murphy

Everyone is set for Friday night’s big match-ups to begin the 2012-13 season, but three games took place Friday afternoon to officially begin the year. Check out the three games below:

Eastern Michigan 66, Rochester 52

The Eagles thought they had lost their head coach to an NBA job this offseason, but Rob Murphy returns to the sidelines in 2012-13 and led his team to victory in the season opener. EMU senior Derek Thompson scored 22 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three-point range. Ray Lee and Daylen Harrison added 12 points apiece for the Eagles. Drew Maynard led the way for Rochester, scoring 27 of the Warriors’ 52 points on 11-of-19 shooting. EMU plays again Sunday when they travel to Jacksonville State.

Houston 81, Florida A&M 76

Houston enters its final season in Conference USA before moving to the Big East and began it’s 2012-13 season with a narrow win over Florida A&M. Leon Gibson scored 20 points and TaShawn Thomas scored 11 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in the win. Highly touted freshman Danuel House struggled to find his stroke in his first official collegiate game, going 1-of-6 from the floor for six points. Reggie Lewis and Jamie Adams led Florida A&M with 18 points each.

IUPUI 67, Utah Valley 54

IUPUI was chosen to finish fifth in the Summit League preseason coaches’ poll, but got a double-digit win over Utah Valley to begin the year. John Hart scored 19 points to lead the Jaguars and Mitchell Patton added 15 points and seven rebounds. Holton Hunsaker tallied 15 points on 4-of-12 shooting.

Daniel Martin is a writer and editor at JohnnyJungle.com, covering St. John’s. You can find him on Twitter:@DanielJMartin_