GRANTHAM, Pa.– Throughout it's program-record twelve-game winning streak, Eastern University Men's Basketball has played from ahead. In this evening's 83-73 loss at Messiah University, the Eagles stayed within striking distance throughout, but had only two brief leads after halftime. Sam Gallardo led the Eagles with 20 points in the loss.

Eastern had the ball trailing by three with three minutes to play, but the host Falcons (5-9, 3-5) stripped a ball free in deep and scored the next four points to extend the lead to a three-possession advantage. The Eagles were unable to close the gap further and the Falcons picked up the MAC Commonwealth win. 

The Eagles trailed 38-34 at the break. Eastern shot 50 percent from the floor, but the Falcons had just a single first half turnover and had five more shot attempts. The Eagles had seven turnovers and were just 1-for-5 from behind the arc. Jaron Fairweather had ten of his 14 points in the first half. 

Eastern grabbed a 54-53 lead on a strong finish at the rim from Kaeshawn Ward and went up 56-55 on another Ward lay-up two minutes later, but those were the only two Eastern leads of the second half. The Falcons had 12 second-half turnovers, but they hit 5-of-6 from deep after intermission. 

Both teams were hampered by foul trouble in the second half, but the Eastern defense seemed put on its heels with Ward and Fairweather in trouble. The Eagles scored inside with their guards, but did not make a second-half 3-pointer until Ward connected from distance in the final 30 seconds. 

Ward scored 15 points after half. Gallardo was 10-of-11 from the foul line.

"We are disappointed," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "We did not play particularly well, and we did not get a lot of breaks, but we were still in a position where we could have grabbed that game. We will use today to focus and move forward. We will be ready for Widener on Wednesday."

The Eagles (13-3, 8-1) are now tied with Hood atop the MAC Commonwealth. Hood won at Widener this afternoon.