DOYLESTOWN, Pa.–Eastern University Men's Basketball saw a furious second-half rally fall short in 72-60 loss at Delaware Valley University. The loss drops the Eagles (15-9, 10-3 MAC Freedom) back into a first-place tie with the Aggies in the MAC Freedom.

The host Aggies, playing in front of a senior-day crowd, shot 68 percent from the floor in the first half and led 39-29 at the break. Tyrea Williams was 8-of-9 from the floor to lead the hosts. The Eagles scuffled to only 32 percent from the floor and took sixteen 3-point attempts.

"We got away from what we wanted to do," Head Coach Eric McNelley said of his team's perimeter focus. "We settled for early shots from deep. Even though we made some, we lost our sense of who we are, and they took advantage."

The Aggies played at a deliberate pace on the offensive end and built the lead up to 14 points with five minutes left in the period. Lincoln Holley and Shaquan Turk each had eight points at the break.

The Eagles attacked the basket in the second half and shot much better from the floor. Even with the more efficient offense, the Eagles still trailed 59-45 with just under eight minutes to play. Turk scored nine points in a two minute stretch to cut the gap to six, but the Aggies made plays down the stretch to pull out the win. The Eagles had possession down six, but Turk's 3-point attempt rimmed out.

"We were much better in the second half," McNelley said, "But we put ourselves in a hole where we had to do everything right, and we had to get some breaks. We will regroup and get ready for Saturday."

Turk finished with a game-high 24 points. Holley had 12 points and Victor Peña finished with 10 points. Tyliek Kimbrough led the Aggies with 23.

Eastern will host Wilkes on Saturday. If the Eagles win, they will secure a home game in the MAC Freedom Tournament. Delaware Valley is at DeSales. If DeSales beats Delaware Valley, the Bulldogs will finish ahead of the Aggies in the final standings. If Delaware Valley wins on Saturday, they will, because they would own the tiebreaker over Eastern, be the top seed. DeSales would be the third seed if Misericordia loses at Manhattanville or fourth if Misericordia wins.

McNelley is only concerned about his own team. The Eagles will honor seniors Lincoln Holley, Tarek Hamzeh, Greg Boyd, Austin Carroll, and Shaquan Turk before they host the Colonels.