DALLAS, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Basketball scored 54 second-half points on Saturday against the Misericordia University Cougars after scoring just 17 points in the first half. Despite the drastic reversal in the tale of two halves, the comeback fell short, and the Eastern Eagles lost 77-71.

The loss snaps the Eagles' three-game win streak and makes them an even 3-3 in Freedom Conference play. Misericordia improved to 5-1 in the conference with the win and 13-4 overall.

In the first half, the Eagles shot just 6-for-23 and only had four players with points. Shaquan Turk had the Eagles' lead at halftime with nine points, Malcolm Garrison and Austin James each had a 3-pointer and Austin Carroll had the other Eastern field goal. Turk and Garrison went on to reach double-digit points. Turk led all players with a career-high 28 points. He went 9-for-17 from the floor and 10-for-11 from the free-throw line. Garrison finished with 12 points, and Anthony Concepcion scored 14 points, all of them in the second half.

Steve Ware led the Cougars with 18 points on 9-of-14 shooting.

After the sluggish first half, the Eagles came out blazing in the second half and went on an 11-2 run. Garrison knocked down a 3-pointer and then so did Hamzeh. Turk went hard to the lane and earned an old-fashioned 3-point play and then added another layup just over three minutes into the new period. That cut Eastern's deficit to six points, 34-28.

However, Misericordia was able to collect some breathing room as Eastern fell into a cold spell. The Eagles went three-and-a-half minutes without a point and the Cougars capitalized with a 10-0 run.

The Cougars' lead stretched as wide as 19 points with 6:08 to go, but the Eagles still had some fight in them yet. Austin James knocked down a 3-pointer with 5:56 remaining to start a 10-0 run for the Eagles.

Turk collected two more "and-ones" in a 90-second span and then 3-pointers by Garrison and Hamzeh trimmed Eastern's deficit to just four with 1:58 remaining.

With time on their side, the Cougars made both of their field goal attempts in the final two minutes and sank 7-of-8 free throws to seal the game. The Eagles shot 3-for-10 from the floor in the last two minutes.

Eastern, now 7-10 overall, hosts DeSales University on Wednesday at 8 p.m.

  
Box Score