WILKES-BARRE, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Basketball's season came to an end in a 103-98 overtime loss to the Wilkes University Colonels in Wednesday night's Freedom Conference semifinals.
With the season-ending loss comes the end of the careers of six Eastern seniors--six seniors who scored all but five of Eastern's points Wednesday.
Alex Nelson, who led the Freedom Conference in scoring this season, dropped a game-high 31 points. Collin Whipple scored 28 points, finishing with 971 in his career. Mike Donatoni finished his basketball career where it started, contributing 14 points at the Marts Center. Martin Soaries also added 14 points while Don Kaiser added four points and four rebounds and Mitch Singer two points and four rebounds.
Dan Werth scored Eastern's five remaining points.
In a back-and-forth game where the score was tied 21 times, Eastern took the lead with 0:50 left in regulation after Donatoni stole the ball from Wilkes' leading scorer Kendall Hinze and found Collin Whipple for the go-ahead layup. Wilkes' Jourdon Wilson responded with a shot to tie the game at 75-75 with 30 seconds left. Eastern held for the last shot, and Martin Soaries isolated his defender at the top of the arc. Soaries drove left, performed a swift step-back, and fired a jump shot that bounced out without enough time for Eastern to get off a buzzer-beater.
The Colonels pulled away in overtime, taking an eight-point lead with 1:43 to go. However, the Eagles fought back and cut the deficit to three points with 0:28 left when Alex Nelson pulled up from 30-feet out and nailed a 3-pointer to make the score 101-98.
Nelson was then forced to commit his fifth foul, fouling out of his final collegiate game. The Colonels sank two more free throws to seal the playoff win. The Colonels shot 22 of their 40 total free throws in overtime. Wilkes finished 32-for-40 from the free-throw line while Eastern shot 21-for-24 from the line.
Eastern University Men's Basketball will miss this group of seniors and will call on the team's young talent to step up and get the Eagles back to the playoffs next season.
Box Score
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