Cavaliers for long stretches, but this year's Eastern team followed up a home win in January with a convincing road win this evening. Matt Malloy led the way for the Eagles with 18 points.

Eastern students who walked across the street to watch their Eagles try to secure a berth in the PAC playoffs made up more than half the crowd, and their support made the game almost feel like a home game. With this evening's win, Eastern moved into second place in the league, but is yet to mathematically clinch a playoff spot.

The Cavaliers jumped to a 3-0 lead when Greg Clifton hit the only three pointer of the half for the Cavaliers just seconds into the game. The Eagles responded with six straight points on an inside basket from Mike Johnson and a pair of Ty Coleman baskets. Randy Reid, who scored a game-high 23, gave the Cavaliers their last lead of the game when he dropped in two straight inside hoops to make it 7-6.

Both teams struggled from the field early, and after several empty possessions Eastern's only senior Lenny DiMaria muscled up an inside shot to give the Eagles the lead for good with 14 minutes to play. Malloy then scored a traditional three point play and a long three pointer from the wing to put the visitors up seven and in command of the game.

The Eagles seemed to be cruising into halftime with a 12 point lead, when Johnson picked up his second foul with under two minutes to play. The Cavaliers took advantage of his absence with a put back basket as time expired to cut the halftime deficit to 27-17.

Malloy led the Eagles with eight points at the half, while Reid muscled in 11 on the other side to pace the Cavaliers. Cabrini missed 12 straight three pointers to close out the half. The Eagles also struggled from the field with just 34% shooting, but were able to connect on three three pointers for the half.

The Cavaliers raced out of the gate with eight straight points to begin the second half and cut the Eastern lead to 27-25 on a Greg Clifton lay-in. Junior Matt Flanagan responded with a critical three pointer from the left corner to bump the Eastern advantage back to five, and Ty Coleman finished a breakaway off a Johnson steal and pass to put the game back in comfortable range.

When the Cavaliers were able to get the ball inside Reid and senior Bruce MacLelland, who was honored before the game, were able to create good looks and earn baskets, but the Eagles were able to force the Cavaliers outside their range and into jump shooting while converting at the other end.

The Cavaliers cut the Eastern lead to five with four minutes to play, but Malloy hit his third three pointer of in the game on a rhythm shot in transition to bump the Eastern lead back to eight. The Eagles made eight straight and free throws to thwart the Cavalier comeback effort and held on to win by twelve.

The win, coupled with losses from Gwynedd-Mercy and Immaculata, pushes the Eagles into second place in the PAC. A Wesley win over Arcadia keeps the Wolverines alive in the playoff hunt and therefore prevents the Eagles, despite their rise in the standings, from mathematically securing a playoff spot.

Coach Nadelhoffer said of his team's effort, "We know what these games mean, and we stressed to our players how important this game was in relation to the league. We knew that Cabrini would play hard, and that we would have to execute at both ends of the floor. I think Malloy was great at both ends of the floor. The work he did defending and getting into the lane to rebound was as important as the scoring at the other end. Flanagan stepped up and hit a huge shot early in the second half to swing momentum back our way, and it was good to see the guys want to go to the line down the stretch.

The Eagles (15-8, 10-6) have now won five straight games for the second time this year. They will travel to Immaculata Monday night for another game with PAC playoff ramifications.