Eastern University Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer had a lot of wishes. They came true as the Eagles (9-8, 6-3)hit their free throws down the stretch and scratched their way to an 87-82 overtime win over local rival Cabrini.

The visiting Cavaliers jumped to the lead early and held a 36-30 advantage at the break. Freshman phenom Glenn Washington overcame foul trouble to lead Cabrini with 13 points at the half on four of five from the field. Throughout the game, the Cavaliers shuttled players in and out to try to deal with foul difficulty in the incredibly physical rivalry game. 

The Eagles failed to take advantage of their opportunities in the opening half as they missed opportunities in close and shot a woeful 7-16 from the charity stripe. the one place where Eastern showed good touch was from three-point range. Eastern hit 3-6 from behind the arc, with Matt Flanagan connecting on two of three. The Eagles were just 7-23 from inside the arc, as they seemed bothered by the intensity and physical nature of the game. 

Nadelhoffer said of his team at the half, "We challenged the guys at the half to step up. I thought we had several seniors show up in a big way for the second half and overtime. We knew going in that tonight was going to be a question of how well we withstood the emotional ups and downs of the contest. This game had a whole bunch of swings and our guys made the big plays at the right time to get us into overtime."

The Cavaliers, who led for all but a few seconds of the first half, scored the first bucket of the second half on an open look from the corner from Washington for three. The visitors held the lead between six and nine points until the Eagles put on an 13-5 run in a two minute stretch to close the gap to one point at 49-48 with just under 14 minutes to play in regulation. Jason Reels hit a pair of threes to spark the run, David Volpe canned a long three, and Flanagan hit a pair of short shots in transition.

The Eagles, however were not able to gain the lead.The Cavaliers righted the ship and built their lead back up to six points at 58-64 with three-pointers from Ryan Oxley and Washington.

Again the Eagles whittled away at the deficit, but missed opportunities at the line again haunted the Eagles as they hit just two of their first six second half attempts for the line. Mike Johnson, who finished the game with eight points, nine boards, six assists, two blocks and two steals, split a pair at the line with just under ten to play to trim the Cabrini lead to 56-55.

The visitors then stormed to a 13-6 run fueled by eight points from senior 1,000 point scorer Randy Reid and another Washington triple. Through that run, the physical play of Reid and the other Cabrini interior players was putting the Eastern inside players in foul difficulty.

The Eagles trailed 69-61 with 6:18 on the clock and three key contributors all carrying four fouls. Mike Johnson checked back into the game as the Eastern staff elected to take the risk with his four fouls. The risk paid off as the senior forward sparked a comeback with an inside hoop.  Cabrini's Charles Bush, who finished with eleven points and eight assists then connected on a pair of free-throws.

Flanagan nailed a three from the top of the key to cut the lead to 71-66. Johnson set up the play after he secured an offensive rebound in traffic and kicked the ball out to the open shooter. Flanagan finished the night with a team high 20 points.

Jason Reels answered another inside basket from Reid when he connected on his third three-pointer of the second half with just under three minutes to play to cut the lead to 73-69. Bruce MacLelland scored a lay-up in transition to give the visitors a six point edge with two minutes to play.

At that point in the game, the capacity crowd began to get restless as the Cabrini contingent in the building began to feel like the game was in hand. Flanagan responded with a three pointer from directly in front of the Eastern bench to cut the lead to three and give the home crowd hope.

The Eagles still had to get the ball back. They got that opportunity on a Cabrini turnover and looked to work the ball inside to Daryl Leegwater. The 6-8 junior took the pass from Johnson and went up strong. He missed the shot, but was fouled in the attempt. With the team shooting just 16 of 36 from the line up until this point, that seemed to be the last place an Eastern player would want to be. Leegwater answered the call and calmly dropped both shots to cut the deficit to 75-74 with a minute to play.

Cabrini worked the ball to control the clock and look for a good shot, but Matt Malloy, who had moved over to guard the Cabrini point guards, came up with a huge steal to give the Eagles the ball back with 35 seconds to play. After a time out, the Eagles looked inside to Malloy who earned yet another trip to the line where he would split a pair to tie the game for the first time since the first half.

Cabrini still had 23 seconds to get a shot off, but a strong defensive effort capped by a blocked shot from Johnson kept the game knotted at 75. The two teams would give the crowd five more minutes of basketball.

After Oxley scored to give the Cavs the lead at 77-75, the Eagles put together an 8-0 run to seize command of the game. Leegwater started the run with a pair from the line and Malloy gave the Eagles their first lead since early on a steal and a breakaway lay-up. 

The Eagles hit 10-12 free throws in the extra period to close out the game and earn their fifth straight win. With the win, the Eagles improve to 6-3 in the PAC and put themselves in good position for a playoff run.

Malloy finished with 18 points and ten rebounds. He was joined in double figures by Volpe with 12 points and five assists and Reels with 11 points and five rebounds. Washington led the Cavaliers with 25 points. He was joined in double figures by Reid with 17, Oxley with 13 and Bush with 11.

Nadelhoffer said of the contest. "We finished the game defending well. We did a lot of things wrong in this game, but we showed good character in weathering the storm and making plays when it mattered. Malloy and Johnson were enormous on the boards, and I thought David Volpe stepped up his game in the second half and keyed our defensive intensity. Flanagan hit huge shots to give us a chance."

Through the evening, the Eastern Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, in conjunction with the PAC's year of service, raised nearly $800 for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. That money will be used to make a wish come true for a a six year old and his family.  

The Eagles return to action at Misericordia University on Saturday at 3:00 pm that game can be heard live on the PAC website.