BALTIMORE, Md.- There were some bright spots in Eastern University Men's Basketball's performance in the final game of the 22nd Annual Blue Jay Classic at Johns Hopkins. Those positives, however, were not enough to lift the Eagles to a win, and they dropped a tough 68-66 decision to the Susquehanna University Crusaders (4-8).

Eastern used solid ball movement and steady defense to build a seven point lead on a Dan Werth leaner with 4:22 to play in the opening half. Susquehanna's Brandon Hedley scored the first eight Crusader points in a 12-2 run to erase the Eastern lead. Hedley scored 11 of his 13 points before the break to lead all scorers at the intermission. Anthony Bertolino made two free throws to pull the Eagles to within a point at 35-34 going into the break.

The Eagles shot 48 percent from the floor and made 9-of-10 free throws in the opening half. Led by three players with six points apiece, eight players scored. The Eastern defense limited the bigger Crusaders to 38 percent shooting, but Susquehanna grabbed 10 rebounds on the offensive end and was able to connect on 4-of-13 long-range attempts.

Eastern committed only three turnovers in a back-and-forth second half, but the Crusaders took the lead for good on a Harley Sellinger jumper on a set out of a timeout. Josh Miller pushed the Susquehanna lead to five with a 3-pointer on a well-executed kick-out pass from Sellinger. Sellinger, playing in just his second game of the season after missing the first semester studying in Spain, proved to be a major thorn in Eastern's side throughout the contest. The junior center finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Seven of his rebounds came at the offensive end.

Anthony Parenti connected on a three pointer from the corner to trim the deficit to two with five minutes to play.

The Crusaders made enough free throws to stretch the lead back to five before Parenti connected on a second-effort shot in the lane to pull Eastern to within three with 72 ticks left on the clock. The Eagles forced a shot clock violation and had the chance to tie, but Malcolm Garrison's 3-point attempt rimmed out.

After Susquehanna missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Eagles elected to attack the basket and Garrison scored from in close to close to within one with nine seconds to play.

Mike Perillo split a pair of free throws for Susquehanna with 7.9 showing on the clock. The Eagles were unable to get a quality look in the final possession and dropped their fourth straight game.

Garrison led Eastern with 15 and Ben Conner delivered an efficient 11 point effort. Werth and Keith Crowell each delivered eight points off the bench. Eastern made 15-of-16 from the foul line but continued to struggle (3-of-14) from behind the arc. Over the past three games, the Eagles (2-11) have seen their turnovers continue to drop as they gain experience.

Josh Miller and Hedley each finished with 13 points to lead Susquehanna.

Eastern returns to Freedom Conference action on Wednesday at Misericordia University.