LEXINGTON, Va.– For the second day in a row, Eastern University Men's Basketball saw a close game get away late. The Eagles (5-6) trailed 56-54 with five minutes to play, but the William Paterson Pioneers closed out the game on a 20-7 run to win the Consolation Game at the W & L Holiday Invitational, 76-61.
The Eagles, playing without three members of their regular rotation, started out well enough. Despite struggling with turnovers early, Eastern held the Pioneers to 1-of-10 shooting early and built a 12-3 lead.
The turnovers, however, started to cost more dearly as the Pioneers started to hit some shots. The Pioneers scored 12-straight points to grab the lead. William Paterson stretched that lead to 33-25 with two minutes to play before the Eagles scored the final seven points of the half to go to the locker room trailing 33-32.
The Eagles had good balance in the first period.
Austin James had nine points,
Austin Duncan had eight and
Lincoln Holley had seven. Eastern shot 50 percent (13-of-26) from the floor but struggled to capitalize at the line and had 13 turnovers.
Eastern never led in the second half. For the first 15 minutes, however, the game stayed very much within reach, and a fast break layup from
Shaquan Turk put the Eagles to within a basket with five minutes to play.
From there, the game went sideways for the Eagles. The Pioneers scored on four consecutive possessions, and the Eagles missed shots. William Paterson then shot six free throws following a foul and a pair of technicals.
"Our frustration level is very high right now," Head Coach
Eric McNelley said after the game. "We need to get our guys healthy for Conference play."
Eastern (5-6) has dropped four games in a row since exams. McNelley and the coaching staff hopes that getting back to regular routines and getting players healthy will be beneficial for the Eagles. Eastern won five-straight games before the break for finals.
Austin Duncan finished with a team-high 14 points and was named to the all-tournament team.
Lincoln Holley scored 12 points on eight shots and grabbed 13 rebounds for his third-consecutive double-double.
MAC Freedom play starts on Wednesday at DeSales.
