Careless turnovers and ineffective defense put the eastern University Men's Basketball in trouble early as the Knights converted 63% of their first half shots on the way to a 47-32 lead. A late second-half run was not enough as the Eagles dropped to 6-5 in the PAC with an 89-79 loss.
Danny Miller, Daryl Leegwater and Jason Reels had 26 of the Eagles 32 first half points as the Eastern senior class scored just four points before the break. Miller led the way with 13 points, but the Knights put three players, led by Derahn Patrick's 15, in double figures.
The Eagles showed signs of life coming out of the break, as a line-up of all underclassmen trimmed the Neumann advantage to 11 with twelve minutes to play and had the Knights scrambling. Eli Hitchens hit the shot of the game for the Knights with a tough 18 footer with the shot clock expiring to bump the Neumann lead to 13. From there, the Knights quickly built their lead to 20 points.
Joe Manzo entered the game and proved to be effective at the offensive end of the floor as he scored 14 second half points on six of six shooting. First year guard Derrick Wright also sparked the Eagles with 13 of his 15 after the break. Reels finished with 18 and Miller had 19, but the Eagles were never able to trim the deficit to single digits.
Coach Nadelhoffer said of the game, "I was very frustrated with our lack of leadership on the floor in the first half. We did not look like a senior-laden team at all. Give credit to Neumann, they outplayed us in every facet of the game tonight and they earned the win. We need to compete with more urgency if we want to make a move toward the playoffs."
Neumann, led by Patrick's 28 points, cooled off from the field in the second half, but still managed to put five players in double-figure scoring for the evening. The Knights converted 14 foul shots to hold off the Eastern charge.
The loss pushes the Eagles into the midst of a very tight race for the playoffs. The Eagles will travel to Valley Forge Christian Wednesday night and will look to regain their winning ways in that non-conference contest before returning home for critical PAC games on Saturday and Monday.
