Eastern University Men's basketball used a 15-0 run over a four and a half minute stretch early in the second half to pull away to an 80-66 win over Immaculata University in their final game before the start of semester break. Danny Miller and Tyrik Tucker each scored 17 points to lead five Eastern players in double-figures.
Immaculata used hot shooting early to jump to an 8-0 lead. The visitors held their advantage until just over midway through the half when Ty Coleman converted a pair of free throws to give the Eagles a 19-18 edge with 8:48 on the clock.
The visitors quickly regained the lead, but were unable to gain any separation as the Eastern defense began to unsettle their former rivals. Miller converted a three point play with just over a minute to play in the half to give the Eagles a slim 32-31 edge going into the break.
Immaculata's Kyle Finklea, who entered the day averaging over 19 points a game, led all scorers with nine points at halftime. Three Eagles went to the break with six points. The Eastern coaching staff was not pleased with the commitment they saw from their team in the opening half and demanded a better effort in the second half. "Let's just say, " said Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer, "that we covered a lot of areas in our halftime discussion. We were playing without the kind of intensity we knew we needed to bring. It is tough to get back into things after finals, but that was not an excuse for the failures in intensity we saw in the first half. The second half was much better."
Chris Myers hit an 18 foot jump shot to extend the Eastern lead to 3 points. Finklea answered immediately when he stepped behind the arc for his second three-ponter of the day. Jason Reels buried a deep three from the corner on a nice skip pass from Martin Soaries to extend the Eastern lead to 37-34 with 18 minutes to play. Immaculata answered with a Josh Alderson lay-up on another nice pass from Finklea, but then the Eagles began thier decisive run.
Tucker earned a trip to the foul line and converted both shots. Daryl Leegwater stretched the Eastern lead to 41-36 on an inside hoop. Reels and Soaries added baskets to stretch the lead to nine points. Finklea then picked up his fourth personal foul with 14:34 to play. Reels split a pair of free throws to stretch the Eastern advantage to 46-36. Soaries then connected on a triple, before the Eagles closed their run on another Reels free throw and an inside basket from Miller.
Any chance of an Immaculata comeback seemed to disappear as the Eagles connected on their free throws and Finklea picked up his fifth foul with just under twelve minutes to play.
The Mighty Macs closed the gap to 62-53 with five minutes left before Tucker scored six straight points to stretch the Eastern edge back to fifteen. The first year brought the crowd to its feet on the middle basket in the sequence as he powered home a lob from Reels in transition.
Reels and Soaries each finished the game with 11 points. Soaries rounded out his game with eight rebounds and six assists. Myers connected on 4-4 from the foul line to finish with ten points. Tucker also added eight rebounds. Finklea, John Boyd, and Julius Lopez each finished with 14 ponts for the visitors.
Nadlehoffer said of the finish, "We still have many things to work on, but I feel much better about the second half. Our young guys were very active in the second half, and our defense created some really good opportunities.
The Eagles (5-3) return to action after the break with an important conference road game at DeSales University on January 7th.
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