ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball led by as many as ten points in the first half, but the visiting DeSales University Bulldogs shot 54.5 percent in the second half to claim a 74-69 win and advance to the MAC Freedom Championship Game. Victor Peña paced the Eagles with 21 points and eight rebounds.

Though the third-seeded Bulldogs (20-6) held the Eagles to 4-of-9 from behind the arc in the first half, Eastern was able to build an early lead on the inside play of Peña and William Blet. Darius Washington hit a 3-pointer to put the Eagles up 36-27 with a minute left in the first, and the Eagles earned a stop with less than 32 seconds to play with a chance to go up 11 heading into the half. DeSales guard Shaundell Fishburne made a steal and Connor Jones converted a pair of free throws at the other end to pull within seven.

Jones scored 12 of his 19 points in the first half to lead all scorers at the break. The Eagles shot 45.2 percent from the floor and had only four first half turnovers but still held only a seven point edge. Peña had ten points. Senior guard Antonio Chapman and Washington each had six.

Eastern held the edge at our around seven points until DeSales put together a quick 7-0 run capped by a Tracy Simsick 3-pointer to tie the game at 43-43 with 13 minutes left.  The teams traded baskets and empty possessions and the score stayed tight until Simsick capped another 7-0 run with 4:50 on the clock to put DeSales up 61-54.

Peña hit his second 3-pointer of the game out of a timeout, but the Eagles still trailed by multiple possessions and the Bulldogs found ways to answer every time the Eagles found a basket until Washington picked a ball clean with Eastern trailing 67-64 with two minutes on the clock. Down three, the Eagles seemed to be in good shape, but an illegal screen call on the next possession gave the Bulldogs the ball and Jones hit a pair of free throws to bump the lead back to five points again.

The Eagles had another chance after a pair of missed free throws with a minute left, but Peña's shot at the rim rolled out and DeSales bumped the lead back to five to seal the game.

Eastern reached the bonus with over seven minutes to play in the game, but only shot two free throws the rest of the way. DeSales was 8-of-12 from the foul line in the second half.

"DeSales was able execute down the stretch and get to the foul line," Head Coach Eric McNelley said after the game. "It was a really frustrating finish for us. When we started three years ago, we wanted to put ourselves in position to win conference Championships. We have won 21 league games in the last two years, and that is a credit to our seniors and where we are going, but we have another step to take. It is a tough way to finish."

Blet joined Peña in double figures with 12 points and six rebounds and Chapman had 10 in his final game as an Eagle. Simsick scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the second half.

The Bulldogs will host Misericordia in the MAC Freedom Championship game on Saturday.