The men's basketball team needed a pair of buzzer beating shots to force overtimes before beating FDU-Florham 86-81 in double-overtime. Freshman forward Alex Nelson finished with a career-best 36 points to lead the Eagles (8-8, 4-2 Freedom) to the wild home win.

Eastern took command of the game at the outset and quickly jumped to a 21-9 lead seven minutes in. The Eagles, it seemed, could not miss a shot. Nelson and Colin Whipple hit back-to-back threes to answer Ricky Fetske's opening hoop, and Martin Soaries pilfered crosscourt pass and converted a layup. The Eagles missed their fourth shot of the game, but Kyle Malloy grabbed the rebound and pitched the ball out to Whipple for 10-6 lead.

Soaries, who finished with 19 points and six steals, stole another ball and again finished in transition, and it looked like the rout was on. The visiting Devils, however, had other ideas, and they took advantage of careless ballhandling to close the gap to 21-19 on a George Twill dunk with 9:13 to play. In the run, the Eagles, who average only 13 turnovers a game, committed seven straight.

Following Twill's dunk, the Eagles built their edge back to seven as Soaries and Nelson fueled a quick 5-0 burst. Up 35-30, the home team had a chance to to stretch the lead further inside the last minute, but a pair of missed free throws following a technical foul and an empty possession sent the teams to the break with a five point spread.

Nelson led all scorers at the break with 15, and Soaries had eight on only four shots. Eastern shot 60% from the field for the opening 20 minutes. Ricky Fetske, who would finish with 16 points and 20 rebounds, had seven points and five boards to lead the visitors at the break.

The second half began like a bad movie for the Eagles, as FDU (0-16, 0-6 Freedom) gained confidence with a 10 -0 run. This time the Eagles were getting shots, but they were not falling. Malloy finally ended the drought when he finished a nifty bounce pass from fellow freshman Nelson over four minutes into the second frame.

The Eagles battled to trim the Devil lead, and Nelson and Soaries hit shots. FDU, however, always seemed to have an answer. Fetske tipped in a miss in transition to give FDU an eight point edge with 10 minutes to play. The Eagles answered with a Derek Wright hoop, but Fetske again tipped in another shot to hold the Devil lead at eight.

Wright scored another two hoops in a row to help close the lead to 35-51 with 7:24 to play. Soaries picked off a pass and went the distance to bring the home team within two. With the crowd energized, the Eagles found a stop at the defensive end on a Derek Wright steal, and Nelson finished in the paint to tie the game at 55 and force the visitors to take a timeout.

Soaries stole the ball on the inbounds and finished for the fourth time in transition to give the Eagles a lead. The visitors answered with another inside basket, this time on a Fetske pass, but the Eagles retook the lead with a bucket from Nelson and stretched it with an elbow jumper from point guard Chris Myers. Fetske cut the lead in half with a layup, and following an empty possession from the Eagles, the visitors went up one when  Alex Rosario banked in a three pointer from the top of the key.

FDU eventually grabbed a three point lead with 45 seconds to play. Derek Wright grabbed a critical offensive rebound and converted both free throws to close the gap back to 64-63 with 30 seconds to play. After the visitors split a pair from the line, Martin Soaries drove the lane and earned a trip to the foul line. The sophomore, a 76% foul shooter on the year, coolly dropped a pair to tie the game with 10 seconds to play.

With the game tied, FDU decided not to take a timeout, and the visitors caught the Eagles off guard as Bobby Faiges hit a twisting reverse layup with 7 seconds to go. Out of the timeout, the Eastern coaching staff elected to put the ball in Soaries' hands. After a move near mid-court Soaries found his way into the lane, and he hit nothing but net on a tough six footer to send the game to extra time tied at 67.

Both teams had several players in foul trouble going into the first overtime, and when Wright forced Fetske into his fourth foul early in the period, it seemed the Eagles had the edge. A pair of free throws from Myers put the home side up three. Again the visitors refused to give up, and they converted 5-6 from the line to grab a 72-70 lead with 12 seconds to play. More important, Soaries fouled out after the Eastern team was forced to file down one late in the shot clock.

Without their leading scorer, the Eagles looked for someone to take the final shot. Wright finally fired a contested three pointer with just a couple seconds on the clock. Justin McClelland, who had just checked into the game for Soaries, controlled the rebound and tapped it to Nelson underneath. The first-year standout finished the layup for his first basket in nearly 10 minutes.

With .8 seconds remaining, FDU had a final chance to avoid the second overtime. Out of a timeout, the entry pass hit the gym rafters and gave Eastern a chance of their own. The Eagles designed a play in the huddle for sophomore big man Eddie Mbanda. They got the look they wanted, but his five footer rolled around the rim and out.

Nelson, who once scored 49 points in a high school game, started the second overtime where he left off the first. He scored the Eagles' first seven points of the final frame, and converted a late free throw to give the Eagles a three-point lead with 4 seconds to play. Whipple closed out the match with a pair of free throws.

Eastern University head coach Matt Nadelhoffer was exhausted after the marathon contest. "I'm very proud of the way our guys competed to the end, I think I may have made some mistakes early, and our tired legs may have shown up in the second half, but the guys battled. This is a big win. When we went to see Alex play in high school this is the kind of thing we saw. He has the ability to become a big-time scorer, but his head is in the right place and he's working for the team."

Rosario led the vistiors with 19 points in 32 minutes off the bench, and Joe Missale finished with 16. The Devils shot 62% from the field in the second half, but converted just 59% of their free throws for the contest.

Wright finished with 12  points to join Nelson and Soaries in double figures. The Eagles, who will hope to get their legs back after a pair of tough games, will return to action Saturday at Manhattanville College. Eastern returns to Kennedy Gym for a rematch of last year's Freedom Semifinal.

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