WINCHESTER, Va.– Eastern University Men's Basketball came up a few seconds short in a 95-86 overtime loss to the United States Coast Guard Academy in the championship game of the Shenendoah University Tournament. The Bears (10-1) capped a 13-to-2 run with a 3-pointer with less than three seconds to play to send the game into extra time.
Michaiah Fraction finished with a career-best 26 points and six rebounds.
The short-handed Eagles used a 13-to-3 run to build a 70-57 lead with nine and a half minutes to play in regulation.
William Blet capped the run on with a dunk on a nice feed from
Marquise Peel. The Eagles still led by double figures when
Brennan Kastens hit a pair of free throws with 4:38 on the clock for a 79-68 lead.
Eastern (7-4) could not get a shot to fall over the final six minute of the game, but still held a 79-78 with thirty seconds to play. The Eagles earned a stop and
Draig Ruff hit a pair of free throws for a three-point edge with 11 seconds on the clock. Out of a timeout with seven seconds to play, the Eagles made several attempts to foul, but the Bears fought through contact and found a shooter in the right corner. Packy Witkowski connected with 2.2 seconds to play.
Darius Washington's three-quarter court heave had a chance but rimmed out.
The Eagles hit only 2-of-8 shots in overtime and the Bears built on an early lead and hit free throws down the stretch to pull away.
Fraction, who entered the weekend with 12 points in limited action over five games, played 41 minutes. He was 5-of-8 from behind the arc and had six rebounds and four assists. He scored 18 in 31 minutes of action on Friday night.
Michael Bowlers finished with 16 points and a season-best 19 rebounds.
Darius Washington had 14 points and three steals and
Austin Duncan had ten. The Eagles shot only 40 percent (32-of-80) from the floor and made only 13-of-21 free throws.
The Eastern defense held the Bears to less than 40 percent shooting through regulation, but the Coast Guard Academy found easy shots in the overtime to pull away. Witkowski finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds and Noah Baldez added 20 points, seven assists, and six rebounds.
Coach McNelley Says:
"[It was a] Tough game tonight but a good weekend overall for our team. We are establishing new roles and a new rotation and had control late in the game. We had some of our inexperience show down the stretch but we are confident we can fix that as we grow. Coast Guard is a very good team and is 10-1 for a reason. They made plays down the stretch to grind out that comeback win."
"Michaiah had another good game for us and Michael Bowlers battled inside for 16 points and 19 rebounds and William Blet is slowing getting healthy and will only get better as we approach conference play. As a group we made mistakes down the stretch. As we grow into our roles and get used to the quantity of minutes, I think we will be able to fix that."
"I'm also pleased with our two seniors, Brennan and Marquise. They both played big roles this weekend and will play an important role on the glass and at the defensive end of the floor as we adjust to playing without Victor."
"Overall, we are happy with our effort and acknowledge the fact that we have played two OT games this season and lost another on a last possession. We will focus on situation basketball over the next couple days and improve the way we are closing out these tight contests."
Up Next:
The Eagles will host Wesley College on Thursday, Jan. 3 at 6 pm.
