READING, Pa.—Eastern Men's Basketball, less than 24 hours removed from driving home from Miami, Fla., returned to the hardwood on Saturday for a non-conference matinee against the Albright College Lions.

The Eagles overcame a 13-point second-half deficit but had their brief lead slip away with two minutes left to play and ultimately fell by the final score of 87-79.

Eagles' freshman Shaquan Turk continued to put up impressive numbers off the bench, dropping 26 points on the Lions in 27 minutes of play. Turk shot 10-for-14 (71.4 percent) from the floor and made the only 3-pointer he took. He also shot 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.

Fellow freshman guard Austin Carroll had his best box score as an Eagle, sinking 6-of-10 field goals and finishing with 15 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.

Eastern's starting big men, Jimmie Willis and Caleb Knudsen, each finished with double-digit points. Knudsen tallied 12 points and six rebounds, and Willis added 10 points and four rebounds.

The Eagles forced 22 Albright turnovers while only committing seven. However, Albright maintained their edge over the Eagles by shooting lights out. The Lions hit 60 percent of their 3-pointers and 58.9 from the floor overall.

Eastern pressed Albright right away and started the game up 7-2, but Albright regained the lead at 8-7 and eventually led by as much as 10 in the first half. The Eagles cut that deficit to four (40-36) in their first possesion of the second half with a layup by Jimmie Willis.

However, Albright went on a 10-1 run after that bucket, increasing its lead to 50-37 with 16:41 to play.

The Eagles called timeout and then scored 11 straight points with a 3-pointer by Carroll, two free throws from Turk, two layups by Caleb Knudsen and a layup by Malcolm Garrison. Eastern finally regained the lead with 7:20 to play with a layup by Turk that made the score 70-69, Eastern.

Carroll increased the Eagles lead to 73-69 with a trey with 4:51 to play.

The Lions tied the game at 73-73 with a dunk by Calvert Gantz, and the Eagles were unable to regain the lead after that point. After Carroll tied the game at 75-75 with a jumper at 2:28, Albright's Pedro Perez hit a 3-pointer that put Albright up for good. Perez led all Lions with 21 points.

The Eagles will be glad to not have to travel anywhere for their next game when they host PSU-Brandywine at 8 p.m. on Tuesday.

Box Score