The Eastern University men's basketball team answered a torrid shooting first half from the visiting Misericordia Cougars with an impressive offensive half of their own to overcome a 13 point second-half deficit on the way to an 81-74 win. Senior guard Jason Reels led the way for the Eagles with 29 points.

The visiting Cougars used torrid three point shooting and an unusual 5 point run in the closing seconds of the first half to take a 39-28 lead into the break.Dom DelPrete hit all three of his three point attempts and was 6-8 overall to lead all scorers at half with 15. The senior forward was not alone in torching the net as sophomore sharp-shooter Jeff Slanovec connected on 4-5 attempts including a trio of shots from deep. 

Slanovec made a pair of threes to break an 18-18 tie and give the visitors a six point edge with six minutes to play. Misericordia scored 15 points in the closing five minutes of the first half including seven straight in the final minute. Del Prete hit a three to give the Cougars a 35-28 advantage with 46 ticks on the clock. The Eagles looked to hold the ball for a late shot, but a traveling violation gave the guests the ball with seven to play. Robbie Johnson connected on a jumper with three seconds to play, and  knocked the inbounds pass free and hit a twisting fifteen footer from the baseline as time expired to send the Cougars to the break with momentum and an 11 point edge. 

Reels had 12 at the break, but the Eastern staff challenged their team to defend better and commit to getting the ball inside for the second half. Head Coach MattNadelhoffer said, "We knew that Misericordia had guys at all spots who can pass the ball, handle the ball, and shoot it, but we didn't close on their perimeter players very well in the first half. We gave them too many good looks early and once they started to feel it, they weren't going to miss an open shot no matter how far away they were."

He continued, "We told our guys that we had to commit to not giving them any more open looks, and they were not going to shoot 80% from three in the second half. The other thing we felt very strongly about was that we had to get inside. We committed to getting the ball to Kyle [Malloy] and Alex [Nelson] in the second half, and that opened up a lot of things on the floor for us."

As a result, the Eagles torched the net with 18-24 shooting from the field and 13-15 shooting from the line over the final 20 minutes. They committed just five second half turnovers and grabbed three offensive rebounds to put together a very efficient 53 point period.

The Cougars hit three three pointers in the opening five minutes of the second half, but would get only one more in the decisive final fifteen minutes of play. The Eastern defense held the Cougars without a field goal for nine minutes and 20 seconds as they erased a 13 point deficit with a 26-12 run over that span.

Malloy, who would finish the afternoon without missing a shot, started the run with an inside bucket on a good entry pass from Martin Soaries. The Eastern staff took a timeout to implore their squad to earn a stop, and the squad responded with good interior defensive and a strong rebound from Reels. Soaries then buried a three on a nice kick from Chris Myers to cut the deficit to 53-45. 

Reels answered a pair of Misericordia free throws with a long two-pointer. Both teams came up with rare empty possessions before Soaries went to the line for a pair of free throws. He made the first to pull the Eagles with in seven, but his second attempt rimmed out. In a sequence of events that several members of the Eastern staff identified as a turning point, sophomore co-captain Collin Whipple ripped the rebound free and powered the follow in home to close the gap to 55-50.

Slanovec and Malloy each made a pair of free throws before Soaries came up with another huge play at the defensive end. The high-flying sophomore blocked a long jump shot attempt from Ethan Eichhorst and ripped the defensive rebound away from a pair of Misericordia players. Derek Wright set up Reels with a rhythm three to close the gap to 57-55 with ten to play.

The Cougars pushed the advantage to four on another two free throws. They made 13-14 in the second half. They earned a stop and the defensive end, and they were looking to go inside to push the lead back to six when Nelson ripped the ball free to Soaries in the open floor, and Soaries raced to the basket to cut the edge to two.

Whipple then took a charge and Reels buried a three pointer with 7:39 on the clock. The Eagles would not trail again. Over the final seven and a half minutes of play, Reels scored nine points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists, and earned one steal.

Despite Reels' heroics, there was still work to be done for the Eagles. The Cougars again found their way to the basket as as Robbie Johnson pulled the guests to within one at 66-65. Nelson made two straight baskets, the second came on a brilliant wrap around pass from Reels, to give Eastern a 70-65 edge, but Eichhorst made two straight hoops for the guests to trim the Eastern lead to one with 3:46 to play.

Chris Myers made a baseline jumper on another nice kick from Reels, but Slanovec swished home his sixth triple of the contest to tie the game at 72. Soaries made a pair of free throws to put the Eagles up two, and after a rare Misericordia miss from the foul line, Whipple converted a three point play to give the Eagles the cushion that would be the difference.

The Eagles shot 75% in the second half and 59% overall. Soaries scored 16 points to go with his three assists, three steals, and three blocks. Nelson finished with 11 points and Malloy ended with 10. Whipple scored seven of his nine points after the break. Reels led all rebounders with seven.

The visiting Cougars (5-2, 1-1 Freedom) put three players in double figures. DelPrete has 22 and Slanovec finished with 20.

Nadelhoffer would later say, "We came in with some really big stops in the second half. Our offense was very good, but it was the defensive effort that we came up with in the second half that made the difference."

The Eagles (4-3, 2-0 Freedom) will go to the Christmas break tied with DeSales at the top of the Freedom table. The team will be off next week for finals, and will return to action on the 15th at Immaculata.