ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern University Men's Basketball dropped their season finale 66-60 to Delaware Valley College. With the win and a surprising loss at FDU-Florham by DeSales, the Aggies earn the top seed in the upsocming Freedom Conference Playoffs. The Eagles honored seniors Dan Miller, Paul Trusty, and Dave Christenson prior to the game.

Though they entered the day already eliminated from the playoffs, the Eagles came out of the gate with good energy and defensive commitment. Alex Nelson scored eight straight points in a four minute stretch to put the Eagles up 18-12 midway through the first period. 

The Aggies came out of the timeout and pieced together a 10-0 run to grab the lead for good. Sophomore forward Jeremy Beckett scored six points on a dunk and a pair of inside baskets to spark the outburst. Despite getting only a pair of free throws from league-leading scorer James Jones, Delaware Valley held a 30-25 lead at the intermission. Beckett had 14 points, and Alex Nelson had ten to lead the Eagles.

Collin Whipple opened the second half with a basket, but the Aggies hit three straight from long range to bump their lead to ten with 17 minutes to play. Jason Goldheimer did much of the damage with two straight. He finished the day tied for game high honors with Jones and Beckett at 18 points.The Eagles carved back inot the lead, but Jones scored six staright and Goldheimer completed a four point lead to give the Aggies their biggest lead of the day at 53-38 midway through the second half.

Down the stretch, the Eastern bench cut the deficit to single digits, but a perfect 10-10 effort fromt he foul line by Jones proved to be too much for the Eagles to overcome. Alex Nelson finished with 15 to pace the Eagles.

"Obviously," Said Coach Nadelhoffer, "This was not the end of the season we had in mind when we started in the fall. While we did not reach our goals in some areas, I feel that we have made some big strides in other areas, and that while frustrating, this is going to prove to be a productive season. Dan, Dave, and Paul mean a lot to this program and we wish them the best as they go forward, and we hope that we will continue to build within our program for the rest of the guys."

The Eagles (12-12, 5-9) finish out of the playoffs for the first time since entering the Freedom Conference. Delaware Valley will have home court advantage for their first round game against Wilkes this Wednesday. DeSales hosts Misericordia in the other game.