MADISON, N.J.- With ten minutes to play, all seemed lost. Eastern University Men's Basketball trailed the host FDU Devils 44-28, and nothing was going right. Down 16, with ten minutes to play, the Eastern staff turned to their bench and asked a group of reserves to do what, on this evening, the starters could not. Led by juniors Tyler Stowers and Martin Soaries, the Eagles outscored FDU 33-14 over the final 9:19 to win 61-58.

Perhaps the best image of the first half occurred in the final seconds as the game stopped for five minutes while three officials pointed to blood spots on the floor and an athletic trainer dutifully applied a bleach solution and wiped up each spot. It was that entertaining.

The Eagles shot a miserable 6-33 (18 %) from the floor and just 3-6 from the foul line. The Devils shot better and led 25-16, but neither team was going to find a lot of highlight material from the first half. Eastern was in the game only because they limited second chance opportunities and did not turn the ball over, but the nine point deficit loomed large.

The second half continued much as the first, and while the Eagles scored 12 points in the first eleven minutes, they broke down late in the shot clock and the hosts were able to get consecutive three point baskets from Adam Katz to grab a 44-28 lead at the midpoint of the second half. At that moment, the Eastern team was shooting 22% for the day and not making any progress.

With high-scoring forwards Dan Miller and Alex Nelson struggling from the floor, the Eastern staff put a guard-laden line-up on the floor with instructions to press the ball. The group of Justin McClelland, Kyle Sims, Chaz Merriman-Brown and Tyler Stowers joined Martin Soaries on the floor. Stowers started several games early in the year, and Merriman Brown sees regular minutes, but McClelland and Sims were being asked to bring a change of pace to the game.

The plan began to take shape very quickly as McClelland connected on his first three pointer of the year and split a pair of free throws after beng fouled in transition. With the deficit at 12, the Eagles picked up a handful of fouls, but the physical play began to change the game as Stowers picked a ball clean and Soaries converted a three-pointer on a kick from McClelland.

Stowers then scored six points in an 8-2 run to pull the Eagles to within three. In the middle of the run, the Eastern staff replaced McClelland, Merriman-Brown, and Soaries with Collin Whipple, Ben Connor, and Mitchell Singer. Singer, who missed most of the early part of the year with injury, made a huge play to battle for a loose ball at midcourt and grabbed an offensive rebound to keep a possession alive.

The Devils struggled to handle the successive waves of defenders, and the turnovers mounted. Whipple scored on an offensive rebound and after a steal on the press, and Merriman Brown hit a short jumper after FDU threw a ball out of bounds. Soaries gave Eastern their first lead of the game with 2:20 on the clock a steal and a lay-in. He converted the three point play to put the Eagles up 56-54.

Once they had the lead, the Eastern squad was able to make free throws and handle the ball to claim their tenth win of the year.

"We preach to the guys all the time that you have to be ready," Head Coach Matt Nadelhoffer said after the game, "the guys coming in really stepped it up today. They have been working hard, and it is difficult to keep working when you are not getting a lot of minutes, but they have really been committed to being ready and it paid dividends tonight."

"Each guy we brought in," the Coach continued, "played his role and did what we ask them to do. Justin made a huge shot, and he did a great job staying in front of [Adam] Katz, and Kyle [Sims], Chaz, Mitchell and Tyler all made huge defensive plays to change the game. This is a great team win for us."

Soaries made 9-11 free throws to finish with a team-high 18 points. Stowers finished with 10. Katz led all scorers with 21 points. Though the only shot 30% for the game, the Eagles finished with 15 steals and 20 offensive rebounds.

The Eagles (10-5, 3-3 Freedom) return to action Saturday with a home game against Manhattanville College at 3:00 p.m..

Box Score