Eastern University Athletics

ASTON, Pa. - One day after completing final exams, Eastern Men's Basketball passed another tough test with a 73-70 at Neumann University. Malcolm Garrison scored a team-high 19 points and made a strong defensive play to contest a potential game-tying 3-pointer as time expired.

The host Knights (4-5) built a nine point lead at 27-18 with four minutes to play in the first half. Garrison made a pair of 3-pointers around a long-range effort from Austin James for a nine points in a minute and 19 seconds. Garrison made 4-of-5 3-pointers to lead all scorers at the break with 12 points.

Neither team led by more than five at any point in the first 18 minutes of the second half and the game looked like it was going to go down to the wire as Neumann held a 63-62 lead with 1:57 on the clock.

Lincoln Holley scored an inside basket to start an 8-0 run to put Eastern up 70-63 with 39 seconds left to play. It looked like the game would be over, but the Knights had one final push. They forced a turnover and converted quickly and took advantage of a missed free throw to further trim the lead to 71-69 with 13 seconds left. Anthony Concepcion made a pair of free throws for a four-point edge.

A Garrison foul with seven seconds left seemed to be of little consequence until Tyaire Hudson made the first and the Knights grabbed an offensive rebound on the second. The Knights missed a pair of lay-ups and Garrison again fouled Hudson, who was looking to pass to the perimeter. Hudson missed the front end of the one-and-one, and Muhammed Amin grabbed another offensive rebound for Neumann. Garrison was able to challenge Green's final attempt and the Eagles held on to improve to 5-3 on the season.

"We have a long way to go before we reach our potential," said Head Coach Eric McNelley,  "It's a good win for us as we prepare for the Florida trip. We have so many young players that each win  or loss is a great learning experience,"

"Malcolm is battle tested, a four-year starter for us," continued McNelley. "He is coming off the bench for us which is a great boost, but it also sets an example for the underclassmen with his sacrifice and team-first mentality." 

Garrison made 5-of-8 3-pointers and recorded a career-high five assists. Shaquan Turk scored 17 points on ten shots. Jordan Johnson did not miss a shot in the game and scored ten of his 12 points in the second half.

DeShawn Lowman led Neumann with  23 points and five rebounds.

Eastern will take on play NOVA Southeastern before heading to Miami to host the HOOPMIA D3 Holiday Shootout.

"We will open up our trip against a very strong D2 opponent in Nova Southeastern," concluded McNelley. "They play in arguably the strongest D2 conference in the country. So we will get to experience a high level of basketball."