ST. DAVIDS, Pa.---Eastern University guard Martin Soaries scored five of the Eagles' final seven points to secure a 75-70 win over the Misericordia University Cougars Wednesday night.
After maintaining the lead since the second basket of the game, the Eagles lost the advantage with 2:24 left in the second half.
The Cougars took a 68-66 lead when Matt Greene hit his fourth 3-pointer of the game.
Both teams traded a pair of free throws on the following possession, but Soaries sank a jumper with 1:40 left to even the score at 70. Soaries then ripped the ball from the grasp of Misericordia's Jerry Reilly under his own basket. Soaries earned a double bonus trip to the free throw line, missed the first, but buried the second.
Misericordia trailed by one, and had a chance to take the lead with 32 seconds remaining. However, Mike Donatoni intercepted the pass and the Eagles proceeded to play keep away. Soaries was finally fouled with 17 seconds left. He redeemed his earlier miss by sinking both attempts and giving Eastern the three-point lead. The Cougars ran too much time off the clock and heaved a late 3-pointer. Alex Nelson then snuck in a buzzer-beating layup to put a definitive end to the game.
After their fourth straight game decided by five points or less, Eagles' Coach Nate Stewart quipped, "We like to make things interesting."
Nelson led all scorers with 27 points while shooting 12-for-19 (63.2 percent). Nelson made his presence known from the mid-range and helped Eastern build an lead as large as 13 points. "[Misericordia] played zone a good bit of the game, and Alex was able to get into a groove and attack the middle," Coach Stewart said. "He flashed in, got the ball, turned and faced, and he was confident. His hot shooting early on got us out to a big lead and gave us early confidence. He's so steady with what he does and how he does it."
Soaries finished with 19 points, added two key blocks, three steals and four rebounds. Stewart noted Soaries clutch play in the past two games. "He was confident," he said. "The last two games he's propelled us to win late in the game. He wants the ball late in the game and we want to give him the ball. He continues to make playes and put so much pressure on the defense. The free throws were huge to give us a cushion."
Collin Whipple also reached double-digit points, dropping 11 points. He also distributed five assists.
Stewart noted Tyler Stowers' contribution off the bench in 22 solid minutes of playing time. "I also thought Tyler Stowers was huge," he said. "It might not show up as much in the boxscore, but he had great minutes for us tonight. He played great defense on their best player."
Eastern finished the game with a field goal percentage of 50 percent while Misericordia shot 44 percent.
The Eagles improve to 9-4 (2-1 Freedom) while the Cougars drop to 9-5 (1-2 Freedom). Their next Freedom challenge will be on Saturday when the Eagles travel to King's College for a 3 pm game.
Box Score
