ST. DAVIDS, Pa.--Eastern University Men's Basketball and the Delaware Valley College Aggies battled through an even first half, but the Aggies took advantage of an Eastern cold spell in the second half and pulled away to win 94-83.

Eastern and Del Val shot an identical 43.8 percent in the first half from the floor and the teams traded the lead 11 times. A jump shot by Eastern's Shaquan Turk trimmed Del Val's lead to one going into halftime. The Aggies' lead reached nine points with 12:38 left in the game, but Eastern cut that lead to six on a 3-pointer by Tarek Hamzeh with 10:57 left. However, after the Hamzeh trey, the Eagles went ice-bucket-challenge cold from the floor for nearly the next six minutes. The Eagles' wouldn't make another field goal until Austin Carroll dropped in a layup with 5:03 left.

Del Val didn't put the Eagles away during that span but certainly made the idea of a comeback more challenging. The Eagles trailed by 14 points with 4:40 to go, but they didn't throw in the towel. A combined 10 points from Anthony Parenti and Austin Carroll from 2:17 to 1:07 pulled Eastern within nine, 86-77. The Eagles began subbing offense-for-defense and vice versa and trying to trade a 3-pointer on their end for free throw attempts on Del Val's end. Eagles' freshman point guard Anthony Concepcion heaved one of the highest arcing 3-pointers ever seen from several feet behind the 3-point line and sank it with one minute to play to make it a six-point game.

Del Val's Zach Sly hit two free throws on the other end, but Eastern gained a point back with a 3-pointer from Austin James on the right wing. James' bucket made it an 88-83 game with 51 seconds left. A comeback was still a ways off, but it seemed a lot more reasonable. However, the Aggies successfully converted all of their six remaining free throws and the Eagles were unable to find any more last-minute magic, failing to score the rest of the way.

Carroll, who had one of his best games of the year earlier in the season against Del Val, had a season-high 18 points to lead the Eagles off the bench. Carroll went 5-for-8 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the charity stripe. He also gathered six of Eastern's 33 rebounds and dealt out four assists.

Shaquan Turk supplied 15 points for the Eagles on 5-of-10 shooting. He picked up three blocks and five rebounds as well. Hamzeh added 14 points and went 4-for-9 from 3-point range. Malcolm Garrison added 11 points and six rebounds.

Delaware Valley had four players in double figures: Zach Sly (11), Nick Sullivan (12), Chris Moran (17) and Francis Arnold who had a game-high 25 points. Arnold, a 5-foot-8 senior guard, also had eight defensive rebounds, four assists and three steals.

The Aggies improved to 6-2 in the Freedom Conference with the win. Eastern took the loss and fell to 3-5 in the conference and 7-12 overall. Eastern travels to Wilkes University on Wednesday for an 8 p.m. bout.

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