DOYLESTOWN, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Basketball pulled within two points in the final 20 seconds of the game but fell 78-74 in a rumble with the Delaware Valley College Aggies.

In what's been a trend the last three contests for the Eagles, they trimmed a second-half deficit but came up short in the final seconds of the game.

Eagles' sophomore guard Austin Carroll had a team-high 16 points on 4-of-11 shooting from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line. Austin James scored 15 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and Tarek Hamzeh and Malcolm Garrison each scored 11 points. Del Val guard Nick Sullivan shot 8-for-11 and hit five 3-pointers to finish with a game-high 25 points.

The Eagles held a lead six minutes into the game, but the Aggies went on a 13-0 run over the next four minutes to take control of the game.

Eastern trailed by 11 with 8:23 remaining in the half, but a layup by Anthony Concepcion, two free throws by Austin James after a Del Val technical, a layup by Samuel Vaughan followed by a layup by Shaquan Turk pulled Eastern within three, 24-21 with 6:18 to play in the half. Neither team was particularly successful the remainder of the half with Del Val outscoring Eastern 9-3 in the final six minutes.

The Eagles shot 22.9 percent from the floor in the first half and improved to 41.2 percent shooting in the second half. The Aggies however, jumped from 35.1 percent shooting in the first half to 70.4 percent shoooting in the second half and stretched the lead to as large as 16 points. With 8:35 remaining in the game, a collision in the paint led to a shoving scuffle on the baseline. While players from both teams could have been tossed for leaving the bench area, the only ejections dealt were to Eastern's Shaquan Turk and Del Val's Francis Arnold. 

The Eagles, who were still trailing by double-digits after the tussle, cashed in on three consecutive 3-pointers by James, Hamzeh and Garrison to bring Eastern within four, 73-69, with 1:42 remaining. A layup by Austin Carroll brought Eastern within three, 74-71 with 47 seconds left.

On the other end, the Eagles forced Del Val to put up an off-balance layup and James recovered the defensive rebound. The Eagles attempted two 3-pointers in the next possession, which was kept alive by Carroll leaping for a rebound on the baseline and throwing it off a defender. Garrison drew a foul and hit one of the two attempts. Down 74-72, the Eagles needed to foul or get a steal on the Aggies' inbounds. Garrison appeared to have made the steal from Sullivan's dribble in the backcourt, but was whistled for the foul. Sullivan hit both his free throws and then sealed the game with two more free throws on the next possession.

Eastern dropped to 2-5 with the loss and 0-2 in the Freedom Conference. Four of the Eagles' five setbacks have been decided by six points or less. Del Val improved to 5-3 and 2-0 in the conference. Eastern has nine days until its next game. They host Bryn Athyn on Dec. 15.

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