DALLAS, Pa.--Eastern Men's Basketball tied Wednesday evening's game against the Misericordia University Cougars with 2:40 remaining after trailing for most of the second half, but the Cougars held off the Eagles' late charge to take a 79-74 victory.

Eastern forward Jimmie Willis came off the bench and led all scorers with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Anthony Parenti tallied 15 points off the bench as well, shooting 5-for-12 from the floor. Freshman Shaquan Turk added 15 points, making 7-of-8 field goal attempts.

Misericordia's Matt Greene shot all of his 11 field goal attempts from 3-point range and hit six of them to finish 54.5 percent from long-range. Greene led the Cougars with 18 points. Joe Busacca shot 10-for-10 from the free-throw line and finished with 15 points. Forward Steve Ware contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds and two blocks. Erik Kerns also had double-digits; he scored 12 points.

Misericordia shot 51.9 percent from the floor and 58.8 percent from long-range while Eastern finished shooting 41.8 percent from field-goal range and 30.4 percent from 3-point range.

Eastern's bench out-scored Misericordia's 34-14.

Eastern led 30-29 with 2:42 to play in the first half, but Misericordia ended the half with four consecutive 3-pointers and entered halftime ahead 41-32.

The Eagles trailed through the first 16 minutes of the second half, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Jimmie Willis and Anthony Parenti brought Eastern within one point with 3:57 to go. Two free throws from Parenti on the next possession gave them their first lead of the half, 64-63.

A jumper from Willis re-tied the game at 66-66 with 2:40 remaining, but the Cougars pulled away with a 9-0 run over the next two minutes.

The Eagles dropped to 8-14 (2-9 Freedom), while the Cougars improved to 13-9 (7-4 Freedom).

Eastern hosts Wilkes University at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Box Score