No place had this trend toward home-team domination been more apparent than Madison, N.J., where the College at Florham Devils (12-12, 7-6 Freedom) had not lost at home in six tries. Eastern University Men's Basketball seemed poised to topple the Devils, but a late rally by the hosts erased an eight-point deficit and forced overtime. FDU kept their playoff hopes alive with a 77-73 win.
The fourth straight loss puts the Eagles in a spot where they need to win at home against DeSales or an FDU loss at Delaware Valley to make the Freedom Conference Tournament. Should Eastern and FDU both finihs 7-7 in the league, Eastern would hold the point differential between tied teams tiebreaker and would earn the fourth seed. With a win over DeSales, Eastern will secure the third seed.
In a game full of runs, the Eagles had the first one as they broke a 10-10 tie with a 16-3 run over a five minute stretch in the middle of the first half. The 26-13 lead, however, was short-lived as the Devils answered with 13 straight points to level the score at 26-26 with 83 seconds remaining in the opening half.
Martin Soaries split a pair of free throws and Collin Whipple hit a 3-pointer to send the Eagles to the locker-room with a 30-26 lead at the break. Whipple and Alex Nelson each had nine points to lead the Eagles at the half. Adam Katz scored 11 of his game-high 26 in the opening frame.
The two sides traded baskets for the first six minutes of the second half before the Eagles again pieced together an 13-1 run to go up 49-38 at the midway point. Whipple was spectacular in with eight points on a variety of tough 15-footers and driving hoops under pressure. The Eagles were unable to swell the lead to more than eleven, and Katz began to exert his influence on the game. One of two seniors honored by the Devils before the game, Katz made a contested 3-pointer and a mid-range jumper to pull FDu within four with six and a half minutes left in regulation.
Whipple hit a jumper out of a timeout, and Martin Soaries made a pair of free throws after an intentional foul call to put the Eagles up 57-49 with five minutes remaining. The Eastern offense went quiet, and the Devils got 3-pointers from Trevor Sykes and Katz to close the gap to two with two and a half minutes to play. Whipple answered with an 18 footer to put the Eagles up four with one minute on the clock.
FDU went inside to cut the deficit to two and had to foul Alex Nelson to get the ball back. Nelson made the front end of the one-and-one, but his second shot rimmed out. Out of a timeout, Katz pulled up from 30+ feet away from the basket and tied the game with 12 seconds to play.
Eastern responded with a quick attack at the other end, but an inside shot and a put-back attempt went awry, and FDU was able to secure a timeout in what appeared to be a held-ball position. Their 3-point attempt for the win barely caught iron, and the game went to overtime.
FDU grabbed a quick five-point edge in overtime, but Soaries answered with five points on a pair of drives and Donatoni nailed a three pointer after a pair of FDU free throws to give the Eagles their only lead of the extra frame.
Sykes hit a 3-pointer and Donatoni was called for a charge on a kick-out pass. The Devils' Derek Hall scored inside to make the lead four.
The Eagles refused to quit and Nelson hit a deep 3-pointer to pull Eastern to within one at 72-71 with 50 seconds to play. It appeared that the Eastern defense forced a decisive turnover with a held ball at 21 seconds left, but again a time out was granted by the trail official and FDu kept possession. Katz made that possession count with a 17-footer, and though Nelson made a lay-in at the other end, they could not keep the ball out of Katz's hands on the in-bounds play. Katz made both free throws and Nelson's long 3-point attempt rimmed out.
"We are playing with really small margins," Head Coach Nate Stewart stated, "in the first half of the year, we were firing on all cylinders, and we were winning close games. We've dropped some really close ones in this stretch."
Whipple and Nelson both finished with 21, and Soaries added 17. Hall had 19 points, and Sykes had 13 to join Katz in double-figures for the hosts.
The Eagles (14-10, 7-6 Freedom) will look to extend their season against DeSales on Saturday. The program will honor six seniors prior to the game.
