Ice and snow on Wednesday forced the Eastern University man's basketball team to travel to Madison, NJ for their first Thursday night game of the year. The Eagles held a lead for much of the first half and sat tied at 32 at the break, but the second half made Eastern's Thursday debut one they would rather forget as they fell 82-73 to FDU.

The  Devils raced to a 15-6 run over the first five minutes of the second half and seized control of of the game. Throughout the remainder of the second half, the Eastern team would force a turnover or pick up a stop to trim the deficit down to three to five points, but on each occasion the Devils would pick up a big basket or convert on consecutive possessions to build the cushion back to seven points.

Tyrik Tucker finished the day with a team-high 20 points and 10 rebounds. Jason Reels finished the evening with 15 points, and Collin Whipple finished with a career-best 14 points.

The difference in the game came in shooting efficiency. FDU connected on 69.2% of their second half. Though the Eagles shot 26 second-half free-throws and forced the Devils into 23 turnovers, they were not able to gain ground as the hosts just kept hitting shots.

Eastern Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer said of the day, "We didn't finish well at the rim, but our biggest problem tonight was that we did not do a good job on the defensive end. It was almost as though we felt they were just going to have to start missing. We need to do a better job contesting shots."

The Devils (7-12, 5-5) put four players in double figures. Ryan McPherson scored a game-high 21, but it was Ricky Fetske who probably did the most damage. The FDU center connected on 8-10 from the field and hit all of his free throws while securing 8 rebounds.

The Eagles (11-6  5-5) return to action at home against Manhattanville College. That game will follow the women's game and should at 3:00 pm. Eastern's 1987 team will be honored for their historic season at halftime.

Box Score