The Eagles held a 64-62 lead with two minutes to play before the Falcons put on an 11-1 burst to close the contest.

Martin Soaries led the way for the Eagles with 24 points, and Jason Reels added 14.

The two teams both had leads in the first half, but the visiting Eagles seemed to be in command with a an eight point edge with six and a half minutes to play. The Falcons chipped away and closed the gap to 32-31 with a putback as the half came to a close.

A 10-0 run to start the second half put the Falcons up 41-32 with fifteen minutes to play. The Eagles battled back from the nine point deficit to seize a 57-51 edge on a Reels three pointer with just over six minutes to play. Immediately after that hoop, they looked to be in good shape with a stop at the defensive end. A back court turnover gave the host Falcons a second chance, and Jamie Yoder made a lay in to cut the Eastern lead to four.

The Falcons eventually pulled ahead 60-59 before Soaries responded with his third three pointer of the contest to put the Eagles back up by two. The critical play of the contest came on the next possession as Messiah's Josh Hartman stepped to the line for a one and one. He missed the front end, but Andy Hawk secured the offensive rebound and tossed it in over his head to tie the contest.

Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer commented, one of our major goals as a team is to not give away offensive rebounds on missed free throws. That was a big basket, and it is something that we feel we need to prevent. They did not miss many from the line, and when they finally did, they got two points out of it."

Collin Whipple responded with a nice jumper to give the Eagles their last advantage of the game at 64-62. Tyler Ritzman started the Falcons final run with a three pointer from the top of the key. Derek Wright split a pair of free throws to tie the contest at 65-65 with 1:17 to play.

The Falcons closed out the contest with a tough lay-up and six of six foul shots. In a game where both teams shot over 50% from the field Messiah held a 33-19 edge on the glass.

The Eagles return to action Friday night at 5:00 pm against York College (NY) at the Montclair State University Tip-off Tournament.

Box Score