A cold stretch to start the second half proved to be too much to overcome as Eastern Men's Basketball fell 73-64 at DeSales University. Tyrik Tucker scored 19 points to lead the Eagles for the game.
The first half moved at a grinding pace as both teams dug in at the defensive end of the court. The Eagles held their biggest lead of the half with at point advantage at 13-8 as Tucker sparked a 7-0 run with 5 points on a tough jumper and a dunk in transition.
Neither team was able to connect from the perimeter as the two teams combined to miss all 16 of their first half three point attempts. The lead changed hands seven times in the opening half and neither team led by more than five points.
DeSales found their best success when they worked the ball inside to senior Ed Lapinski. They were able to forge a 29-28 lead at the break as the 6'6' center made all six of his first half field goal attempts and led all scorers with 14 points at the half. Jason Reels led the Eagles with 10 points at the break and Tucker had nine.
The decisive stretch in the game came in the opening moments of the second half. The hosts scored the first seven points of the half and pulled away to a 19 point lead with a 24-6 run over the first nine minutes of the half. The Eagles slowed down the Bulldog run, but at that point the game had escaped them.
Eastern Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer said of the opening moments of the second half, "We can look at that bad spell at the beginning of the half and say we did well except for that, but that was the game. We are young, but we will need to grow up fast."
The Eagles were able to generate points with their defense and rallied late. They trimmed the DeSales lead to 68-60 with just over a minute to play, but the rally proved to be too little too late. Jason Reels finished with 18 points and Danny Miller added 10. Lapinski finished with 26 and Brian Hunter added 20 for the Bulldogs.
The loss drops the Eagles to 5-4 on the season. The Bulldogs improve to 9-1 with the win. Eastern returns to action Friday night at Penn State-Brandywine.
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