So, when the Eagles fell behind by 17 with less than seven minutes to play, the game seemed out of reach. Eastern staged a miraculous rally with four made threes to force overtime but ultimately fell 94-89.
The Cougars led 39-37 at the half behind balanced scoring and three 3-pointers from Matt Greene. Collin Whipple had 11 at the break, but the game felt out of reach.
Things did not get better as the host Cougars stretched their edge to 50-40 six and a half minutes in on a lay-in from Cael Evans. The teams traded baskets until the Eagles cut the deficit to five with nine and a half minutes to play, and then the wheels came off. Consecutive triples sparked a 12-0 run that gave the hosts their biggest lead of the game with less than seven minutes on the clock.
Head Coach Nate Stewart called on Mitchell Singer for his first action of the game, and though he did not make a dent in the scoring column, the senior forward played a huge part in the furious four minute rally. Donatoni buried a 3-ponter and then Singer grabbed a steal and found Donatoni again. Donatoni finished the evening 4-4 from distance with 16 points.
The Eagles earned a stop on the next possession and Alex Nelson converted an offensive rebound into a hoop to close the gap to nine. Nelson rebounded his own miss to pull to 68-61, and then then the senior buried his second of three 3-pointers on the day. The Cougars scored in response, but the game was now nearer to Eastern's preferred pace and Nelson answered with a pair of free throws and a tough 3-pointer that banked in from just left of the top of the key for his 12th point in the two-and-a-half minute stretch.
Whipple then made a tough 12-footer to close the gap to one before Steve Artzerounian made a pair of free throws. Nelson answered with another inside hoop, and then Whipple took a charge right at the two minute mark to give the Eagles the ball with a chance for the lead.
Donatoni nailed his final three of the day to put the Eagles up two with 108 seconds left.
It appeared that the Eagles had a stop when they doubled the post and tied up Ethan Eichhorst, but the official ruled that Martin Soaries fouled the senior stand-out. Eichhorst made both free throws to tie the contest. The Cougars made free throws to lead 78-77 with 40 seconds to play, and the Eagles had to foul after Whipple's jumper rolled out.
Misericordia's Sean Bieski split a pair and Whipple willed his way to the defensive rebound. The senior captain then sprinted directly to the basket to tie the game with ten seconds remaining. The Cougars called timeout to set up an isolation play, but Whipple was again up to the task and poked the ball to Nelson and called timeout to set up a desperation three as time expired.
The Cougars built a four point lead early in overtime before Whipple made three tough lay-ups around a single COugar hoop to tie the game with two minutes left. The Eagles would not score another field goal the rest of the way and the Cougars made their free throws down the stretch to earn the win.
Artzerounian scored six of his game-high 30 in overtime to lead the hosts. For the Eagles, Nelson finished with 28 points and 10 rebounds, and Whipple had 25 and eight. The Cougars were 24-of-27 from the line for the night, while the Eagles converted only 13-of-21.
The loss drops the Eagles into a second place tie with Wilkes University in the Freedom Conference. Eastern hosts Wilkes in what is now a critical Conference tilt this Saturday.
