ST. DAVIDS, Pa. - Eastern Men's Basketball stumbled down the stretch and watched as Ursinus College escaped with an 84-80 victory on Monday night. The Bears closed out the game on an 8-2 scoring run in the final minute of play to claim the win. 

"We are young, and our youth showed up again tonight," said Head Coach Eric McNelley. "We did a lot of great things, but we need to get better and learn how to win these types of games."

Ursinus (4-6) opened the game on a 14-5 run that left Eastern playing catch-up for the better part of the first half. The Eagles (6-6) managed to claw their way back into the game and took their first lead at 23-22 with 9:22 left to play in the first half. 

Eastern led by as many as eight with just under three minutes to play in the half but watched as the Bears went on an 8-0 scoring run to tie the game at 36-36 with 23 seconds left to play. It looked as if the game was going to stay tied heading into the locker room but Shaquan Turk grabbed his own rebound off a missed jumper and hit a layup just as time expired to give the Eagles a 38-36 lead at the break. 

"He [Shaquan] was huge for us tonight," continued McNelley. "I thought he did a great job leading his teammates and doing everything he could to help us try and win this game."  

In the second half, Eastern held the lead for most of the way and led by as many as eight at one point, 70-62, with just under eight minutes left to play. However, with just under two minutes left to play Ursinus had climbed all the way back to tie the game at 74-74. On the ensuing Eagles possession, Austin Carroll knocked down a mid-range jumper to give Eastern the lead at 76,74. 

The Bears Malik Draper hit a layup at the other end of the floor to tie the game right back up at 76-76. Carroll once again though answered the call for Eastern and hit another clutch jumper to take a 78-76 lead. Draper, however, answered right back with a basket of his own plus an and-1 to give Ursinus the 79-78 lead, which they never relinquished. 

The Bears knocked down all their free throws down the stretch the claim the win and escaped with the dramatic victory. 

Turk led all Eastern scorers tallying 26 points and eight rebounds. Austin Carroll recorded a season-high 14 points while adding four assists and two rebounds. 

Eric Williams netted 23 points for Ursinus while Matt Knowles scored 20 points of his own. Joe LoStracco scored 14 points and recorded ten rebounds while Brian Rafferty and Malik Draper each netted ten points apiece. 

"I am proud of the way our team battled tonight but we simply just have to get better," concluded McNelley. "We have one game left before conference play starts and we have to get this thing turned around. We will learn from this game and move forward and hopefully be better for it." 

Eastern will host Juniata College on January 9th at 3 pm.