RADNOR, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball built a 17-point first-half lead but had to hit free throws down the stretch to hold off the host Cabrini University Cavaliers in a season-opening rivalry game. Eastern hit 19-of-25 second half free throws on the way to an 84-79 win. The Eagles claim the Eagle Road Trophy for the first time since 2015 with the win.

To start the game, everything seemed to go right for the Eagles. Led by Austin Duncan's 4-of-5 effort, the Eagles shot 60 percent from the floor. The senior guard was 4-of-5 from behind the arc and put down a breakaway dunk. Darius Washington also made three-first-half 3-pointers as the Eastern perimeter players feasted off open looks when the Cavaliers helped inside. Cabrini made just 11-of-37 shots in the opening frame.

The Eagles were very intentional about working from the inside out and scored 18 points in the paint on the way to a 46-31 lead at the break. The Eastern coaching staff expressed concern about their sides 14 first-half turnovers. The Eagles cut that number to 11 in the second half, but the hot shooting from the first half did not continue.

Cabrini started the second half on a 26-10 run to take the lead at 57-56. The Eastern faithful in the stands seemed uneasy. Last year, in this match, the Eagles led 60-57 with six and a half minutes to play. The Cavaliers won that game 82-68.

This year would be different.

The lead changed hads twice before Washington hit a big three pointer from the right side of the floor to put the Eagles up 61-59 with eight and a half minutes to play. The Eagles earned a stop and grabbed the ball back with a Draig Ruff rebound Before Victor Peña hit a tough jumper in the lane to give the Eagles a four-point edge. Ruff and Peña then each converted a pair of free throws after successive stops to build the Eastern lead back to ten with a little less than seven minutes to play.

The Cavaliers cut it to four points with two and a half minutes to play and had the ball with a chance to cut it further, but Ruff jumped high to pick off a pass and led a transition opportunity the other way. The first year wing player played the 2-on-1 break perfectly and fed Washington for the lay-up with two minutes to play.

The Eastern lead bumped back up to nine before the Cavaliers hit some 3-pointers late to close the gap.

Washington led the Eagles with 21 points and nine rebounds. Peña had 19 and nine, and Duncan finished with 18 points on only seven shots. Michael Bowlers grabbed nine rebounds in his 33 minutes. Ruff finished with nine points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals in his first collegiate game.

This is the first time since 2007 and just the fourth time in 26 tries that Eastern Men's Basketball has won at Cabrini. Since Eastern left the Pennsylvania Athletic Conference before the 2008-09 school year, the teams have played a single game annually for an Eagle Road street marker. For the second time since the tradition began, the sign will rest on the St. Davids side of the road.

Eastern will play a home-opener against PSU-Schuykill on Thursday night before heading to Tennessee for a weekend tournament near Duncan's home town.