MALVERN, Pa. –
William Blet scored 24 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, but Eastern University Men's Basketball was unable to complete a late rally in a 76-65 loss at Immaculata University. The host Mighty Macs (4-3) closed out the game on a 17-9 run to pull away to the win.
"Credit to them," Head Coach
Eric McNelley said after the game. "They competed for the entire game and were able to grab way more loose balls than we did. Their effort surpassed ours, which is disappointing. We saw their film and knew that we would have to match their intensity, share the ball, and take care of the ball, and we were not successful in any of those three areas." While the bigger Eagles controlled the glass, Eastern had only eight assists in the game and committed a season-high 21 turnovers.
The Eagles trailed by 13 early in the second half but seemed to have cut the deficit to a reasonable number when an
Austin James 3-pointer cut the deficit to 47-44 with eight and a half minutes left.
Immaculata answered with six-straight points, but the Eagles again chipped away. Blet did much of the damage. The freshman forward was able to finish in close and showed good touch to 15 feet. Blet was 12-of-17 (70.5%) from the floor. The rest of the Eagles were 15-of-53 (28%). Blet scored 18 of his points in the second half.
With four minutes to play, the Eagles had the ball in transition down three points. Blet chose to force the issue and was called for an offensive foul and went to the bench with his fourth. The Mighty Macs scored the next five points to go up 64-56 and spark their game-ending run.
"Our guys have to gear up for exams." McNelley said, "And then we will have some tough tests ahead of us. We cannot allow teams to out-compete us."
Austin Duncan scored 12 points and was the only other Eastern player in double-figures. Mike Piekarski led the Mighty Macs with 20 points.
The Eagles (3-4) will host Rowan on Friday night and will play at Haverford next Saturday before traveling to Miami for a pair of games in the HoopMIA D3 Holliday Shootout.
