With the win, the Eagles level their Freedom Conference record at 3-3 and improve to 9-4 overall. Tyrik Tucker and Jason Reels each scored 16 points to lead the Eagles.
As their football playing namesakes from Philadelphia did the day before, the Eagles started slowly and quickly found themselves in a big hole. The Devils connected on their first six three-point attempts, and seemed to have everything going their way as they pulled out to a 28-9 lead with 9:20 left in the first half. Freshman guard Adam Katz scored 11 of his 13 first half points in the opening ten minutes of play.
Nothing seemed to be working for the Eagles as every shot seemed to carom the wrong way and the Devils seemed to get any shot they wanted. Ty Coleman then began to make a difference. The senior guard collected an offensive rebound and made a pair of free throws to spark a 7-0 run that he capped with a three-pointer. The visitors would stretch the lead back to 17, but the game was on and Coleman connected again from distance to make the score 35-21 with six minutes to play.
The Eagles extended their defense and closed the FDU advantage to 41-33 with a 12-6 run to close the half. Coach Nadelhoffer commented, "We were terrible to start. They are a very good shooting team, and we gave them too many looks. In our time-outs we stressed the importance of cutting into the lead and not getting frustrated or trying to score it all at once."
With the game within ten at the break, the Eagles felt they had a good chance. Through the first half, the Eastern bench saw many minutes and the coaching staff cited this depth as an important element in wearing down the tighter FDU rotation.
Nadelhoffer and his staff challenged their squad not to get complacent, and the Eagles needed just over four minutes to tie the game. Tyrik Tucker, who switched onto Katz for the second half, made his mark at both ends of the floor. The wiry forward scored the first eight Eastern points of the second half. His dunk with 16:34 left in the game brought the crowd to its feet and seemed to unsettle the visitors.
Reels put back his own miss to tie the game at 46. Katz then answered with a nice drive through traffic before Reels would tie the game a second time with another put-back of his own miss. The Eagles then took the lead at 50-48 when Chris Myers converted two free throws following a technical foul.
Unlike their professional namesakes, the Eastern Eagles did not surrender the lead after their big comeback. The defense continued to extend as the Eagles forced the Devils into 20 turnovers and 30% shooting for the second half. Nadelhoffer said, "We challenged Tyrik to be a difference-maker, and he was really dynamic. He had three steals and two blocks and really limited what they could do in the second half. We know that we need to generate chances with our defense and that our defense gets better when we score. It is a cycle that allows us to go on some big runs, but it also gets us in trouble on occasion."
The Eagles put together a 20-5 run over a six minute stretch to seize their biggest lead at 83-65 before the Devils closed out the scoring at the buzzer. Eastern shot 57% from the field and made 17-22 free throws for the second half.
FDU's Ricky Fetske led all scorers with 19 points, Katz added 17, and Ryan McPherson added 11. Derek Wright added 11 and Coleman pitched in with ten to join Reels and Tucker in double figures. Twelve different Eastern players grabbed rebounds as the Eagles held a slim 37-35 edge on the glass.
The Eagles will try to win their fifth straight when they host Alvernia University at 8:00 pm Wednesday.
Box Score
